The ongoing COVID pandemic has hardly had any diminishing effect on Goa’s image as a tourist destination wherein charter airlines from Russia and UK have already applied to the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation and Airport Authority of India for landing slots in the state. Moscow’s Royal Flight and TUI have shown immense interest in getting tourists to Goa from October 26 on chartered flights.
While Royal Flights has asked for 169 slots from October 26, TUI has been requesting 3 to 5 slots on a weekly basis. The decision upon the said requests would be taken by the Centre.
The COVID curve in Goa is yet to witness flattening with cases rising on a daily basis with 500-700 cases being recorded each day. Though CM Pramod Sawant has permitted tourism to be opened up in the month of July, the number of tourists visiting the state has been extremely low. Further, the state Govt has also lifted all restrictions on entry into the state where testing and quarantine is no longer compulsory. However, it is expected that the Centre and State Government will put an SOP in place for charter tourists.
Commenting on this development, an official said, “The charter flights already have 30-40% bookings and if there is more clarity regarding COVID and the protocols, the bookings will pick up.”
