The sagging Goan chartered tourism industry was salvaged a bit by Russian tourists' arrival but it could not prevent the overall drop of 10 per cent in the chartered tourists arrival compared to last year.
The chartered flight arrival data has indicated that around 614 flights arrived till April 27 in the state bringing in 1,45,414 visitors to this coastal resort state of Goa. As expected, these figures indicate a drop of almost 30 to 35 per cent from English countries while 10-15 per cent reduction from Scandavian countries.
The Russian chartered flights were the saviour, who opened up new destinations for Goa this time, Ernest Dias, vice-president, Tours and Travel Association of Goa (TTAG), said.
The statistics available from the state tourism department indicate that 287 charters from UK arrived this season bringing in 77,500 tourists while Russia remained on the second top position bringing in 44,116 through 178 chartered flights.
Among the other countries, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Italy and Finland brought good chunk of chartered tourists here. Germany became the third highest country to get in chartered tourists by flying 50 flights, bringing in 9,159 visitors.
The industry experts feel that the flow this year was not contending compared to last year. In all, 710 chartered were flown to Goa last year in addition to the Condor flight
operating 48 flights from Germany. This year, the Mumbai terror attack and global recession resulted in the drop of incoming tourists, Dias said.
The TTAG, which is an apex body of tour operators, has decided to introspect after this season as how to pep up the next season.
"We will ask the state government for tax rebates. The hoteliers have already slashed their tariff so they must be compensated as tourism sector is very important," Dias said.
He said that Goa is facing tough competition from other destinations like Thailand, Singapore among others, which needs to be scuttled by giving attractive holiday
offers.
Sri Lanka will now open up as a new destination after the war ends there, Dias added.
