PANJIM: Tourism season is looking up in the New Year, Ralph D’Souza spokesperson of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa said while speaking to media persons in the city Friday.
D’Souza stated, “The season was down in November and December, but January is looking good,” while replying to queries on reports that Goa has had a poor tourism season thus far. He attributed the slow start to the late arrival of charter flights to Goa and the late season of Diwali which cut short the holidays last year.
This, he said, had affected revenues in October and November. D’Souza however pointed out that the revenues stabilised in December and are on the rise this month.
When questioned about the discrepancy in the government statement on increase of tourist arrivals and industry perspective on decrease in arrivals, D’Souza said that the year end rush had to some extent cut the deficit.
Replying to queries on how the tourism industry was being looked at in the wake of suspension of mining, he said that much focus has been on promoting Goa within India and internationally on the aspects of beach management. “A lot of spade work has been done,” he said.
