The tourist season in Goa this time, beginning from October,is expected to be better as "the value of rupee is falling," Traveland Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) president Fracisco de Braganca said.
"Europeans find Goa a cheaper destination and naturallythey will fly here," he said, adding that, however, the situation is notsame for the UK travellers, whose own economy is in crisis.
The state expects rise in the tourists from Russia, CIScountries, Poland, Scandinavia and Finland though "there will be furtherdrop from UK," Braganca said here on Wednesday.
But, overall TTAG expects a rise in the number of touristsowing to the sluggish rupee versus dollar.
Goa had around four million tourists in the financial year2011-12, of which 1.69 lakh arrived in 910 chartered flights. In 2010-11, 1.71lakh had arrived through 900 chartered flights, which was a tremendous increasecompared to 1.37 lakh tourists arriving in the state through 626 charteredflights in 2009-10.
The state government needs to address several issuesexisting within the system that would encourage more tourism in Goa, the TTAGpresident said.
"There should be consistency in policies of the stategovernment; they change as per the government," Braganca said.
Consistency can be achieved by formation of Tourism Board,which is long overdue in the state, he stated.
The tourism players' association also insisted that Goagovernment should lobby with the Centre for putting in place arrangements forvisa-on-arrival at Dabolim Airport."The government should form a highlevel committee to pursue the matter," Braganca said.
TTAG has also demanded single window clearance for theevents like Sunburn festival or night markets, so that the organisers don'thave to spend months together to get the clearances.
