Calls for adding more countries to the list
PANJIM: The Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) has welcomed the decision of the Central government to extend the visa on arrival facility to Goa airport, but feels that more countries need to be added to the list.
President of the TTAG, Francisco de Braganca, however feels that it should have been extended to countries like Russia and Scandinavian countries which have direct charter operations into Goa.
The TTAG in a press communiqué has hailed the Union Tourism Minister Chiranjeeve for pushing the proposal through the Union Home Ministry and getting it approved by the inter ministerial meet. This was in addition to efforts of the Goa Tourism ministry in pursuing the matter with the central ministry for getting Goa included in the list of airports where such a facility will be available.
“The visa on arrival facility would have been a bigger boost to Goa in comparison to other destinations in India in case such a facility was extended to Russians, other Scandinavian countries and Western Europe,” Braganca said.
The TTAG feels that the countries so far included will not help much the Goan tourism trade. Except for Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Laos, Myanmar and Indonesia do not have much tourism business coming into Goa, the communiqué says.
“We therefore need to push the Central government to include Russia, other Scandinavian Countries, Western Europe including UK amongst countries to whom this facility will be made available,” Braganca said.
According to the TTAG, the Union Tourism Ministry had pushed for all these countries, excluding the UK. However the approval granted by the Home Ministry is restricted to certain countries which have no much tourism inflow into Goa.
He however said, “None the less in bound tourism into India as a whole will grow at least by 25 to 35 percent with this decision.”
If one recalls the TTAG has been demanding visa on arrival for foreign tourists for many years. Braganca however reiterates that more work needs to be done in this direction.
“On one side we are spending millions of dollars in promoting tourism and on the other, when the tourists actually want to come, we make it difficult for them to get visas. The process of granting visas on arrival therefore needs to be simplified,” the TTAG chief said.
It was pointed out that countries like Australia and Sri Lanka are providing visa for a small fee. Australia charges only 19 A$ for a visa and the same is granted within 24 hours and thus facilitates the process of implementing visa on arrival more smoothly.
