Start charter flights for Goa

The Travel & Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) has been aggressively lobbying for the authorities to allow international charter flights from Goa’s main source markets for the upcoming tourist season so that clients can start planning. But will it be safe?

Hazel Jain

A delegation from the Travel & Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) recently met the new Tourism Minister of State Shripad Naik and submitted a memorandum about the industry’s expectations.

Sharing details of this meeting, Nilesh Shah, President, TTAG, says, “We are pushing for the government to restart charters from our main source markets. MoCA has still not announced opening dates for scheduled flights nor the international charters and the ban is on till July 31. This is after announcing five lakh free tourist visas. So until that starts, we will have to depend on domestic tourists. Goa has started domestic tourism but in a calibrated manner so that it opens safely.” He added that the Goa government’s scheme to allow reduction in landing charges is also pending. A provision was made in this year’s budget by the state government to extend the landing fees waiver of one lakh for international charter flights till March 31, 2023, and accordingly budgetary allocation done for next year.

“If the government plans to start international commercial flights within the next two-three months, the announcement has to be made now to facilitate booking by charter travellers. If there is a delay, potential travellers may be diverted to other destinations. Besides, tour operators will not be able to start their marketing activities unless they know when flights will start. Starting of charters will also help small hotels as they largely depend on them,” Shah adds.

While Goa saw starred hotels opening after the first wave ebbed in October-November last year and domestic flow increased, three star and smaller hotels remained closed as they are dependent on charters.

“We are asking for a travel bubble with countries like Russia, UK and Poland from where Goa receives charters considering that they contribute almost 90 per cent of India’s charter business. These charter flights should be allowed to land into Goa with SOPs similar to those provided for domestic travel – fully vaccinated, RT-PCR test validity of 72 hours and testing facility on arrival,” Shah says.

He shares a positive statistic and says, “At our peak since the pandemic hit us, we had 80 flights with almost 12,000 pax before March 2021. After that we received only 3-4 flights. Last week, we welcomed about 3,500 pax which means almost 30% of the flights are now full, which is a good sign for Goa.”