Flu fears fail to deter tourist inflow in Goa

Goa's tourism industry has rubbished rumours of weekend travellers cancelling their trips to the coastal state in wake of the Swine Flu pandemic.        

"Swine Flu has not yet affected the tourism industry and the 'viral situation' is likely to normalise by September, when the tourism season begins in Goa. All the hotels have high occupancy and there is no dearth of weekend tourists visiting here," Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) President Ralf D'Souza told PTI.        

"Goa is much safer place compared to rest of the cities. Here, the situation is much under control and hence this is a good reason for the tourists to come here," he said.   

 

The tiny coastal state receives around 24 lakh tourists annually comprising 20 lakh domestic vacationers, who flock to the beaches on long weekends with their families.

After the 26/11 attacks, now flu concerns have cast a shadow on the tourism industry in the state, with Pune in neighbouring Maharashtra witnessing a dozen deaths due to the viral infection.        

However, GTDC officials denied reports of Flu affecting the tourist inflow in the state.

"There is absolutely no need to raise apprehensions. Goa will have around 35,000 tourists visiting this weekend itself," Lyndon Monteiro, Deputy Chairman, Goa Tourism Development Corporation, said adding Goa has a bed capacity of 40,000 and most of its hotels have a very good occupancy.After the 26/11 attacks, the flu concerns is feared to cast a shadow on the state's tourism industry, with Pune in neighbouring Maharashtra witnessing over a dozen deaths due to the viral infection.        

Monteiro said that the state government has taken enough precautions to insulate the state from swine flu virus.  

"We have people flocking the state and if you see around, the number of vehicles of Maharashtra and Karnataka registration will indicate that Goa is still a favourite weekend destination," he said.  Also, the TTAG is constantly monitoring the situation on the ground and has been educating the hotels about the precautions to be observed to ward off Swine Flu spread, D'Souza said.