The next tourist season will be fully dependent on the arrival of charter flights, which should be encouraged, ask tour operators
The Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) President Nilesh Shah has asked Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to impress upon the Centre to issue e-visas to citizens of UK, Canada and other nations.
Shah also raised the issue of harassment to tourists by the Goa Police. “They should not be treated like criminals. If they violate the traffic signals, then with good talks it should be handled, not by harassing them,” he said while talking to IANS.
The next tourist season will be fully dependent on the arrival of charter flights, which should be encouraged. “Goa’s tourism sector has suffered due to withdrawal of e-visa for travellers from the UK, Canda, Kyrgyzstan and other countries. We have requested the Chief Minister to take this matter to the Central government and find a solution over it,” Shah was reported saying to IANS.
“Online frauds while booking hotels are cause for concern. Fraudsters have developed the websites of hotels and on the pretext of providing rooms in the hotel they cheated tourists.”
Mostly senior citizens from the UK visit Goa, said Shah. They find it difficult to apply for a regular paper visa at the Indian embassy, which involves additional cost of travelling and other expenses. “That is why we have requested to include the UK in the e-visa service. This will help tourism in Goa,” he said.
Before the Covid pandemic, around 40 to 50 thousand UK nationals used to reach Goa by charter flights while quite a few came by scheduled flights. “35 to 45 per cent of tourists we get from Russia,” Shah said. “During Covid pandemic some travel companies had shut their operations. Now, few are interested in ventures. Hence, we hope that in the coming season we will get tourists from the UK and Russia,” he said.
Shah also spoke about online frauds while booking hotels. Fraudsters, he said, had developed the websites of hotels and on the pretext of providing rooms in the hotel they cheated tourists. The government, he said, should take action against such fraud practices. In fact, TTAG had complained to the Goa Police in this regard.
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