Goa's tourism industry today claimed that 273 more chartered flights had arrived in the state this season compared to the last year, with 50 per cent of them originating from Eastern Europe.

As the tourism season is inching towards closure with seashores getting ready for a wet spell, the industry said there was a healthy increase in chartered flights reinforcing the fact that Goa still remains a hot-favourite amongst foreign tourists.

Official statistics recorded by the Goa Tourism department reveal that a total of 899 charter flights carrying 1,71,178 travellers from 12 international destinations have landed in Goa since the start of the tourist season in October 2010.

This is a marked rise from the 626 charter flights that flew into Goa in the previous tourist season with 1,37,790 passengers on board.