Europe snowfall fails to impact Goa's foreign tourist arrivals

It might be snow falling in Europe but the tourism industry in Goa said it is not feeling the chill as the icy weather has not considerably affected the number of visitors flocking to the beach destination.

Tourism industry and state government has said that although there are delays in chartered flight landings, there is no impact on the tourist figures in Goa for the year-end due to the snowfall in Europe.

Tourism director Swapnil Naik said the chartered flight figure is clocking towards 750-mark this season and there have been no cancellations.

Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) an umbrella organisation of the tour operators have also rubbished reports that heavy snowfall has impacted Goa's foreign tourist arrivals.

"As far as our records go, there has been no single cancellation from European nations. There are some delays though...by five hours or so..but no rescheduling even," TTAG spokesperson Ralf De Souza told Press Trust of India today.

The industry feels that tourism has been slowly shifting from foreign tourists to domestic crowd, which is equally high spending.

Tourism director Swapnil Naik said there has been a rise in domestic tourist arrivals in Goa in the last few weeks in comparison to the last season.

"The beaches are flooded with tourists and the season is at its peak. You check out the position of flights to Goa.. they are full. Also there are so many people rushing down here on their own vehicles," he added.

Goa attracts 24 lakh tourists, including 3.5 lakh foreigners, every year.