PANJIM, DEC 29
It’s not the European snowfall but the new visa rules which have prevented European travellers from spending long holidays in Goa at a time when the tourism season is at its peak.
The fresh visa regime has created flutters in the Goa tourism industry as it fears a drop in tourist arrivals. The Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) said that the fresh visa regulations, which restrict vacationers from staying for more than three-months, will affect the arrival of European visitors to the coastal State.
“The new visa regime is impacting Goa’s unique selling proportion. Our repeated visitors from Europe, especially from Russian and Britain are declining,” TTAG spokesperson Ralph D’Souza said.
The industry has recorded a drop of seven percent of visitors from Europe this year due to the new restricted visa policies. “The new visa means that a traveler cannot stay for more than three months. He has to go back to his country and go through a cooling period of two months before getting his visa back to India,” he stated.
Out of four-lakh foreign tourists, Europeans throng Goa in large numbers to escape the winter season back at their hometowns. TTAG has nonetheless taken up the issue with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna who has assured to review the case.
The tourism industry has got quite a satisfactory amount of tourists from Europe who have already made their headway to Goa due to snowfall in Europe.
The figure of chartered flights has crossed 750-mark this season and there are no cancellations. The Tourism Department meanwhile is slowly shifting from foreign tourists to the domestic crowd, as they are also equally high spenders.
“The beaches are flooded with tourists and season is at its peak. There is a considerable increase in the number of tourists as compared to last year…while the number of flights is full on one side, many tourists are also driving down to Goa in their own vehicles,” said Director Swapnil Naik.
