Goa in talks with chartered flight operators to boost traffic

Goa Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar today said the state government is in talks with chartered flight operators to boost the sluggish traffic.
The state has witnessed 40 per cent decrease in the chartered flight arrivals -- which mainly bring tourists from Russia and East Europe -- this tourist season.
The Minister said there was no impact on the number of foreign tourists. "The number of charters has gone down due to several reasons, but the number of tourists has gone up. We are not losing the foreign arrivals," he said.
Most of the chartered flights come from Russia, Ukraine and other European destinations. "There are no flights coming from there due to internal conflicts; we are not at fault," he said, talking to reporters.

The number of foreigners using visa-on-arrival facility has increased. "In the last four months, almost 18,000 tourists came through VOA," said Parulekar.
"We have spoken to three chartered flight operators -- Condor, Thomson and Tui -- to work out ways to increase the arrivals," he said.

Goa government has also requested the Civil Aviation Ministry and the Airports Authority of India to provide the chartered flights parking facility at Dabolim airport, which would lead to these operators flying to Goa weekly or even twice a week, the Minister said.
According to official data, Goa received 4,41,543 international tourists as of March 31 against five lakh during the previous season.

Till March-end, the state had received 28 lakh domestic tourists against 35 lakh last season.
In 2013-14, Goa received 1,128 charters bringing in 2,61,452 tourists, whereas in 2014-2015, (up to April 3, 2015) 813 charters came with 1,54,047 tourists.