TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The State’s tourism ministry has registered a record arrival of 27.8 lakh tourist in the state of Goa this year. Data furnished by the department on Wednesday reveals that 4.5 lakh were foreigners as against 26.7 lakh, which includes 4.45 lakh foreigners during 2010-11, showing an increase of 4.4 per cent in the inflow of visitors to Goa.
Goa also witnessed an increase in charter flights. According to tourism department statistics, 987 charter flights carrying 2.15 lakh tourists as against 910 flights with 1.69 lakh tourists in 2011-12, from nine international destinations, landed in Goa from October 2012 to mid-May 2013. About 742 charter flights arrived from Russia followed by 152 flights from United Kingdom.
The number of cruise ship arrivals in Goa has also seen an increase with 25 vessels carrying 22,233 passengers in 2012-13, as against 20 vessels carrying 11,946 passengers in 2010-11.
Dilip Parulekar, Tourism Minister, said, “Goa has done extremely well in 2012-13, better than previous years. We are delighted to see the upswing in the arrivals of domestic and foreign tourists which touched an all-time high.”
The minister pointed that Goa has emerged as a preferred destination for MICE, weddings and also leisure tourism. Positive steps have been taken by the Goa government such as introduction of water sports policy, security force on Goan beaches, improvement of tourism infrastructure, marketing and promotional efforts, which have paid off good dividends, he said.
“For a sustained inflow, there is scope for improvement and we are working hard to further the cause of tourists’ comforts in Goa. We are having a new outlook towards renew surge in the tourism industry during the current year,” Parulekar added.
