Allow charter flights into Goa

Members of the Travel & Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) met Goa CM Pramod Sawant to share suggestions for the upcoming Goa State Budget 2021 and request him to allow international charter flights to land in Goa.

Hazel Jain

In order to help stakeholders in Goa recover from the after-effects of the pandemic, the Travel & Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) recently met up with the state CM Pramod Sawant to share a detailed document regarding the upcoming State Budget 2021. On top of the list is a 50 per cent reduction in the Excise Licence renewal fee for hotels, restaurants and bars in Goa. The TTAG delegation was led by President, Nilesh Shah, along with committee members VP Githry Velho, Sairaj Dhond, Vincent Ramos and Ernest Dias. The Budget session of the Goa Assembly will be held between March 24 and April 16.

The association also requested Sawant to allow charter flights to land in Goa from safe destinations such as Russia, UK, Poland, Ukraine, Finland, Kazakhstan and CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries by forming a bubble. Shah says, “We need to provide incentives to foreign airlines and charter operators who bring tourists into Goa via charters by waiving landing and airport fees for them for the period of 12 months starting March 2021. We also request a 100 per cent reduction of visa fee to be given on all visas for the same period starting March 2021 through the tourism promotion and marketing budget. This will help the industry revive itself by competing with other neighbouring tourist destinations as well.”

The TTAG memorandum that was submitted to the Goa Chief Minister also mentioned that a budgetary provision needs to be made for the approval and implementation of the Goa State Tourism Policy with installation of the tourism board as per the recommendations of KPMG with inputs from TTAG.