Goa now targets tourists from Iran, Turkey

PANAJI - Goa’s travel industry is now targeting tourists from Iran and Turkey, an industry official said Friday.

Six charter flights from Iran are expected to arrive in Goa in the first two months of 2011 carrying nearly 1,000 tourists, Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) spokesman Ralph de Souza told reporters here.

“We have been receiving one or two charter flights coming in from Iran, but this year we have six flights coming in,” he said.

The state’s travel and tourism industry in the state was also lobbying with the state government to promote Goa tourism in Turkey, in light of the visit of the Turkish ambassador to Goa recently.

“Apart from these countries we have also appealed to the tourism department to promote Goa in nearly 20 European capitals and major cities like Madrid and Barcelona (Spain), Paris as well as cities in north America, which have direct connectivity to Goa via Doha,” de Souza said.

De Souza said the new, more stringent multi-entry visa regime, which stipulated that a foreign tourist spend a two month period outside India after a three month stay, had severely hit Goa’s reputation as a long haul summer destination for tourists and the state could take a ten percent hit in arrivals.

“The new visa regime is very problematic for us. It is really affecting the long stayers from western Europe who used to spend their entire winter in sunny Goa,” he told reporters here.

“In the present scenario, after spending three months in India, they have to spend a two month cooling period outside India. This makes it non-practical to spend their vacations here. Several tourists take two vacations per season. These visa regime changes will affect them too,” he said.

Goa’s six month long tourism season begins in October during which the state attracts nearly 2.5 million tourists, nearly half a million of whom are foreigners.