The Tourism department has conceded that Russian tourist arrivals have dropped by 35 per cent in 2014, conceding that Goa could be facing a bleak tourist season.“Foreign tourists have dropped though not from all nationalities. The Russians have dropped by 35 per cent but Ukraine nationals have maintained their arrival numbers,” Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar said on Tuesday.
The Tourism industry, he said, will now adopt a new marketing strategy in a bid to encourage foreign tourists, especially from European countries and the United States of America.“The Visa on Arrival will help boost the arrivals chart,” he said. In addition to this, the Tourism department also plans to target more domestic tourists, particularly those belonging from the middle class.Sources said that charter flights from Moscow will stop flying to Goa after January 15.
The Russia-Ukraine crisis, the devalued Russian rouble and cancellation of chartered flights from a few destinations has added to the drop. It is the ongoing exposition of the Sacred Relics of St Francis Xavier that is boosting the Tourism industry given that tourist footfalls did not reach government estimated targets.
Meanwhile local politicians have sough rebate for the tourism industry. "The tourism industry is heavily taxed by the state government. The season this time around is bad. The business is less. We demand that the state government should waive taxes for them," state Congress unit spokesman Agnelo Fernandes said here.
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