Goa tourism industry is apprehensive that its coming season may hit a dead end following the unprecedented terror attacks in Mumbai.
PANAJI: Goa tourism industry is apprehensive that its coming season may hit a dead end following the unprecedented terror attacks in Mumbai, even as global meltdown has begun to take a toll on the sector.
"The Mumbai attack will naturally have its impact on Goa's tourism," Goa Tourism Director Elvis Gomes said.
Goa, a favourite destination amongst foreign guests, has already seen a 20 per cent drop in arrivals beginning October.
The crisis in Mumbai will add to the woes of this industry, which has already cut down its room tariffs.
Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat and state Home Minister Ravi Naik, in recent press conferences, have appealed to tourists not to worry. "All the precautionary steps are in place," Kamat had stated.
Despite assurances, tourism industry players have kept their fingers crossed over the oncoming season, which usually witnesses a rush for Christmas and New Year celebrations.
The Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), an apex body of hotels and tour operators, has said that the tragedy would cause a drop in the Free of Itinerary (FIT)
category of travellers.
"FIT tourists arrive in India through different flights, travel around India and then use Mumbai as the point to enter Goa. Of the total foreign travellers, 50 per cent are
FIT," TTAG President Ralf de Souza said.
Ralf contended that the global meltdown had already hit the tourism industry with travel agencies not being able to make bookings for the months of January and February.
"Those are the months all tour operators look forward to. There have been virtually no bookings as of now," he said.
Industry players fear a tattered season ahead with France, US, UK and Australia issuing adverse travel advisories against touring in India.
Goa attracts 3 lakh foreign tourists, of which almost 50 per cent are Britishers.
Vice President of Sita Travels, a leading travel agency and charter handler, Ernst Dias, said that post the terror strikes in Mumbai, few tour packages from Russia and
Ukraine to Goa had been cancelled.
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