Times of India | 1 month ago | 01-12-2022 | 07:40 am
Panaji: Since November, Goa has received one charter a day, besides four scheduled flights a week, from Russia. However, stakeholders said that the state will probably have to wait till the next season to touch the pre-pandemic numbers. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Goa would receive three charters a day from various Russian destinations. Nonetheless, tourism stakeholders are happy with the footfalls as the last two seasons saw them run into losses. “We are doing good this season, but I think we will be able to achieve pre-pandemic level business only next year,” said Ernest Dias, chief operating officer at Sita, handling Russian tourists.For the longest time, Russia has been the biggest market for Goa, apart from the UK. In 2019, Goa received 3.41 lakh tourists from Russia and 2.71 lakh from the UK. More than half the charter tourists came from Russian destinations. Dias said that a new trend that he has observed this season is that, besides budget tourists, the state is also seeing high-spending tourists from Russia.“That’s probably because Russia being at war with Ukraine, its citizens have fewer travel options,” said Dias.Vice president (operations) at Minar Travels (India) Pvt Ltd, Abida Kumar, said charters from Russia will continue till April 23, 2023.Besides Russia, two charters a week from the UK and one from Kazakhstan fly into Goa. President of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), Nilesh Shah, said that with the e-visa issue still unresolved, UK charters are seeing only 50-60% occupancy.“Had the e-visa problem been sorted out, we could have more arrivals from the UK,” Shah said.Before the season started, TUI Airways had committed to fly four charters, but altered its plan after potential UK travellers cancelled their Goa plans after facing difficulties in securing paper visas.Until the pandemic, Goa received repeat tourists from the UK.A tour operator handling UK travellers said that even as the e-visa issues remain unresolved, they are receiving queries from the UK and expect the next season to be better. In 2018, as many as 2.94 lakh travellers from the UK visited Goa, the highest numbers seen in a decade since 2009, while average annual arrivals stood at 1.75 lakh. Goa also received a significant number of tourists from countries such as Germany, Ukraine, Finland, France and Switzerland. Arrivals from Ukraine dried up last year with the war. Arrivals from Finland, France and Switzerland have dipped significantly in the last few years.
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