Old terminal proposed to be put to use for the facility
TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: While the new terminal at Dabolim airport was inaugurated in December 2013 and received the first flight for Lusofonia games, the old terminal is proposed to be put to use for issue of visa-on-arrival facility that could give a huge boost to tourism this season.
The tourism industry and stakeholders appear to be in the dark on the commencement of the VoA facility at Dabolim claiming that the new terminal is not yet operational and none seemed to have clues on when the terminal would be fully functional.
While officials say that they are expecting the new terminal to become operational at least by January 26, 2014, there are neither indications from the Airports Authority of India nor the Goa government on this issue. So far VoA facility has been cleared by the Central government (Ministry of Home Affairs) for 11 countries including Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Laos, Myanmar and Indonesia.
Goa’s tourism ministry is eagerly awaiting the issue of the second list which would include nine more countries possibly Russia, Germany, Switzerland, Malaysia, UK, France, Australia, Italy, Netherlands. Other countries viz. Spain, USA, Canada, UAE, South Korea, South Africa, Maldives, Sweden, Israel, Oman, Belgium, Austria, Denmark, Kenya, Poland, Saudi Arabia, China, Taiwan, Norway, Portugal, Ukraine, Mauritius, Ireland, Tanzania, Turkey, Brazil, Czech Republic, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Bahrain and Argentina are also on the list for consideration for VoA facility by the MHA.
Tourism ministry officials disclosed that other States in the country where the VoA facility was made available issued close to 22,000 visas on arrival last year during the season.
“Goa stands a better chance of attracting more tourists directly to the State if the VoA facility is made available at the new Dabolim terminal,” said a top official.
So far 508 charter flights have landed in Goa bringing in 1.26 lakh foreign tourists during this season.
This season the tourism department had conducted Goa road shows in Sweden, Malaysia, Singapore, the US, Switzerland, New Zealand-Australia and campaigned in Israel too keeping in mind the VoA facility to be extended to more countries by the Centre.
Interestingly, Goa is also playing host at the Indo-Japan Tourism Expo in New Delhi Tuesday.
“Japanese tourists are the best to attract as they are high-spending tourists,” said an official in the tourism ministry adding that even though they look for golf courses and other high-end tourism attractions.
