INDIA: Goa Tourist Season Declines By A Month As Foreign Visitors Fly Out

The tourist season in Goa appears to have been curtailed by a month as foreign visitors have almost deserted the beaches and are flying out, even though the tourism department claims record high arrivals.

Many of the beaches are wearing an abandoned look especially after sunset as tourist footfalls have drastically fallen down.

Shacks, restaurants and shops along the lanes leading to the beaches have begun winding up for the season even as officially the last chartered flight is yet to take off from the coastal state.

"There are no more tourists arriving here. We will have to wait for the next season to start," said Parvez Khan, who runs a small-time shop in the once busy lanes of Arambol.

The shopkeepers are introducing the end of the season sales across the belt, have begun offering a massive discount on the products.

"The products are sold for one-fourth of the price," said Khan who owns a shop selling leather items.

"The situation is grim in the beach belt including Calangute-Candolim belt. There are no takers for Goa flight due to which the chartered operators have begun cancelling their trips and are re-deploying the aircraft to some other destinations which go full," Ralf Douza, Spokesman, Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), told PTI.

The foreign tourist season, which used to get over in the month of May every year, is curtailed to April end, he said adding that this new trend set in since last year.

"Only at a few places in Candolim and Baga beach, there are shacks which are continuing and will survive. Rest all others have begun dismantling," said D Souza.

The tourism department has given permission to 480 shacks across the state's beaches.

Locals claim that the Britishers have already flown out of the state while few Moscow-bound charters will be departing from the state in coming days.

The state tourism department has claimed that a total of 693 charters arrived during this season bringing in 1,45,833 foreign tourists.

The traditional shack owners who have been eking out their livelihood on the tourism trade say that the tourist season never picked up this time.

"The tourism season never picked up during this year. Except for two days during the New Year celebrations, there were no tourists arriving in Goa," Manual Cardozo, President, All Goa Traditional Shack Owners Association said.

"Not even 20% of the tourists (compared to the past) have arrived in Goa this season," he said.

Cardozo claimed that even domestic tourists have started giving Goa a miss.

However, the state tourism department claims that there have been rising tourist arrivals.

State Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar told the state Assembly recently that the tourist arrivals have crossed 50 lakh mark compared to half of it during earlier years.

"One can tally the foreign arrivals but there is no method to calculate how many domestic tourists are coming to Goa. I don't know how the tourism department came to a figure of 50 lakh,"