The Hindu : Karnataka News : Goa sees sharp rise in tourist arrivals by chartered flights

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 28, 2011
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka

Goa sees sharp rise in tourist arrivals by chartered flights

Special Correspondent

PANAJI: As the present tourist season draws to a close, Goa witnessed a healthy increase in charter flights.

According to Goa Tourism Department statistics, 99 charter flights carrying 1,71,178 travellers from 12 international destinations had landed in Goa since the start of the tourist season in October 2010. This indicated a marked rise from 626 charter flights that flew into Goa in the previous tourist season with 1,37,790 passengers onboard.

Charter flights from the U.K., Russia, Poland, Germany, Norway, Kazakhstan, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, France, Netherlands and Iran fly into Goa. Statistics show that over 50 per cent of the number of charter flights arriving in Goa originated from Eastern Europe, mainly Russia and Kazakhstan. In all, 435 flights arrived from Russia and 20 from Kazakhstan.

“The State has seen a large increase in tourists from countries such as Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Russia,” Ralph de Souza, spokesperson for the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), said on Friday,

He said that travellers arriving from Russia and other Eastern European countries arrived in the State mainly through the charter route. That was not necessarily the case with British travellers.

Goa attracts a steady stream of visitors from the U.K. A total of 261 charter flights carrying 57,848 travellers arrived in Goa from the U.K. “Goa has consistently received a high number of British travellers, especially long staying guests. This year, 261 charters arrived from the U.K.,” said Mr. de Souza. He was emphatic that Goa was the only holiday destination in India which enjoyed the highest number of repeat tourists, especially from the U.K. and parts of Western Europe.

December and January recorded the highest number of charter arrivals; 167 flights in December 2010 and 187 flights in January 2011, respectively.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka