Goa has been a major party destination attracting lakhs of tourists to usher in New Year.
The 105-km-long beachline turns into a party spot on the New Year eve, with night-long revelry planned for visitors.
“You might get domestic tourists from cities like Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad and other two-tier cities for the parties.
“But the season does not look promising. The hotel occupancies have remained low right from October this year.
The only hope we see is in the form of Visa on Arrival facility extended to various countries. That too, the facility should function properly,” said Ralf D Souza, a hospitality sector expert and spokesman for Tours and Travels Association of Goa (TTAG).
D'Souza said that Russia-Ukraine crisis coupled with the devaluation of rouble has made the foreign travel expensive by 30-35 per cent.
This is the main reason why the numbers from Russia are falling. The occupancy in the state in last 15 days was low by 27 per cent, he said.
While State Tourism Department in the past had boasted of its efforts to bring in tourists from new markets, D'Souza pointed out that the charter flights from countries like Germany, Sweden and Switzerland have stopped arriving due to less demand from tourists there, contributing to the down slide.
“The number of Western European tourists coming to Goa has gone down. We need to focus our promotion vigorously in these targeted markets,” he said.
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