Team Herald
VASCO: From passengers of cruise liners getting caught up in traffic jams to alleged fleecing by taxis, luxury passengers coming in from the seas come and return with nothing being offered to these tourists for a better Goan experience.
MV Aegean Odyssey, yet another luxury cruise liner, arrived on January 9, 2019 at the Mormugao Harbour from Mumbai Port and is berthed at the International Cruise Terminal with 277 foreign guests and 169 crew members. This is the 12th luxury cruise liner to visit Mormugao Port during the current cruise liner season which commenced on September 10, 2018. But is there ease in travel for these high-end tourists to Goa which is facing a huge drop in the footfall of tourists to the State?
A passenger ship had earlier arrived last week with several hundred tourists to the MPT berth. The cruise liner tourists, have maximum 5 to 6 hours for site-seeing, but have to waste time at Vasco itself for documents checking and further face huge traffic jams. The tourists frowned over the time they wasted in traffic..
The tourists of these cruise liners have also been facing traffic blocks at Cortalim and Zuari which has disheartened many of them this season. The President of Travel & Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) Savio Messais said: “These tourists come to Goa with a limited time and it’s unfair that they have to spend half of it negotiating traffic.”
It is also been informed that many of these tourists have been fleeced by the taxi drivers and this has set a wrong impression among these visitors.
“The infrastructure at the cruise berth at MPT has improved to a great extent and is satisfactory now compared to the berths around the world. However, these smaller problems have to be taken care of for an overall pleasant experience for the tourists,” added Savio.
The visiting guests of MV Aegean Odyssey hail from over five nations. The local tour operators provide services to these tourists by offering them tours to the beaches, religious spots, heritage monuments and other touristic spots.
However, many of them end up getting little or no experience of Goa’s heritage due to the various hindrances.
