The worry for passengers doubles as the lone ATM machine set up inside the departure hall remains closed for extended period of time.
“We were surprised to see that the foreign exchange counter was closed. I thought of withdrawing money from the ATM, however, even that was closed following which we had to hire a taxi to go to Vasco which is five kilometres away to exchange currency,” said Irina Lakuska, a Russian tourist.
According to airport officials, the new terminal building had a total of three foreign exchange counters. One was at the arrival, the second at the departure and the third one in the departure hall. Besides that, one ATM machine is installed at the departure hall. However, since the last month, the foreign exchange counters have stopped operation and to make matters worse, the ATM also doesn’t function.
As the tourism seasons is in its final stages, the international tourists are leaving the State. It creates a lot of problems for these passengers when they find that the exchange counters are shut forcing them to either exchange currency with locals at low rates or take Indian currency back with them to their countries, noted an airport official working for an international charter company. He preferred to remain anonymous.
Goa Airport Director, K S Rao told Herald that his hands are tied with respect to the closure of foreign exchange counters. “The company that was operating the counters voluntarily asked for the closure after which we invited another company to set up its counter. I am sure the same will be operational within a few weeks. Before the next tourism season, all such issues will be resolved” he said.
