PANAJI: Even as Goa is looking forward to a big rise in chartered arrival from Russia this season, the room shortage in three-star, four-star and five-star hotels in the peak season could work as a deterrent.

This is what is bothering Goa Tourism Minister Wilfred de Souza, who was confronted with this complaint by many Russian travel agents during his latest visit to that country.

With about 40,000 beds in the three categories, Goa's hospitality industry is under pressure during the peak season to accommodate different categories of tourists. With the domestic arrivals significantly on the rise in recent years, the hoteliers this year will find it tough because the State will be on the map of three more international airlines.

Poor work blamed

About the failure to attract tourists from Russia, Mr. de Souza said: "The amount of poor work that went into wooing the Russians in the past and failure to address the complaints of their travel agents about things such as lack of enough rooms are responsible for it."

Mr. de Souza, who wooed tour operators and travel agents in Moscow and St. Petersburg, said: "They were enthusiastic about Goa. Their reaction was good and they want to bring charters. What I realised is many of them do not know about India, but they know about Goa."

The State, which traditionally gets high arrivals from European countries, is now confident about more Russians coming this season. Mr. de Souza said from around 1,000 a few years ago, the number rose to 5,000 tourists two years ago and last year it was 29,000, according to industry figures.

Last year, Goa was getting three chartered flights a week.

Beach shacks

On the issue of beach shacks, the temporary eateries and stalls put on the Goan beaches every season, which has traditionally become a great attraction of the beach tourism, the Tourism Minister said he would come out with a policy to allot the same.

The shacks, which serve snacks, cooked food and drinks and beverages to tourists right on the beach, are allotted to the local people by fixing guidelines to ensure that the locals share the spoils of tourism.

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