The importance of restarting charter tourism in Goa cannot be understated. According to available information with the Goa Tourism department, in 2018-19, there were 813 charter flights bringing in more than 2 lakh tourists into the state. In 2020, that figure was somewhere in the region of 600 flights before the lockdown was announced.

Soon after a joint delegation of the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) and Travel & Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) met the Goa Chief Minister, Pramod Sawant to appeal for him to begin working towards restarting international charter tourism to Goa—Sawant came out with a statement that the state would the state government will write to the Centre to take steps to revive tourism.

The chief minister said, “It (allowing charter flights) is in the purview of the Government of India (GoI) and until the GoI does not give the permission, we cannot start. Even earlier this request had been conveyed to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Tourism. This time also we will be writing for them (TTAG). Until now we have not taken any decision but there is a willingness now and there is no harm in thinking positively about this. They (TTAG) want it to be started by October, which is still two months away. They wanted time to prepare for this and in case the number of Covid-19 cases increases, we can cancel it (permission for charter flights),”

As the leading international leisure tourism destination of India, the delegation asked the Chief Minister to take immediate steps to restart charter services on a reciprocal basis from countries that have opened their borders for Indian citizens. They said that charter flights from destinations like Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, should be allowed to operate to Goa.

“With the full closure of international flights and visas since March 2020, many operators and stakeholders have closed offices and are facing severe financial constraints,” the delegation said.

The delegation demanded the opening of International tourist charters from October onwards so that foreign operators have time to market and prepare for the operations. This will also help to save this season from going to waste. In case there is a third wave of COVID-19, the cancellation can be made by September or October.

Since the Visas are suspended for international tourists, special charter tourist visas should be worked out which can be issued manually by the local embassies or temporary landing permits can be issued on arrival to tourists, as done in the past, the delegation said.

Source