The Goan Network
PANAJI
Despite being the peak festive season and with the New Year just round the corner, airfares from Mumbai and Bangalore to Goa are unbelievably affordable on December 31. Industry experts, have however, attributed this to lower than expected tourist arrivals in the State.
At the time this article was written, a ticket on a Trujet flight which departs from Bangalore at 7:25 pm on December 31 and reaches Goa at 8:55 pm was available for just Rs 2,621.
This is not all as throughout December 31 a lot of options are available to fly from Bangalore to Goa for fare between Rs 3,000 and Rs 4,000 per seat.
Similarly, a ticket on a GoAir flight which departs from Mumbai at 5:25 am on December 31 and reaches Goa at 6:25 am was priced at Rs 3,971. Several other airlines too are also offering cheap airfares like less than Rs 5,000 per seat on December 31.
Industry veterans said that this was because of Sunburn and Supersonic moving out of Goa this year.
Ralph de Sousa, chairman of de Souza Group, said, “In Sunburn and Supersonic, we had two great events happening in Goa between Christmas and New Year. These events would not only fill rooms, but would create premium income. Now that these events aren’t happening in Goa, hotels are really struggling to fill rooms and have lost their income.”
As if the absence of two major electronic dance music (EDM) festivals was not enough, the central government announced demonetisation, which has sucked a lot of currency out of the system.
Couple of years back, airfares from Delhi to Goa had touched Rs 25,000 per seat on December 31, which had ultimately led to many people cancelling their Goa plans. But, this year, flight tickets are available from Delhi to Goa on December 31 between Rs 7,000 and Rs 8,000, which is really affordable too.
A major ticketing agent said, “Lower airfares clearly show that demand is less this year compared to last year. EDMs are not happening. Then, demonetisation happened. Overall, less people are travelling to Goa.”
