Go Goa, Gone: Charter tourism fails to take flight
Inbound charter flights, which ferry hundreds of foreign travellers to the sunny beaches on India's western shores of Goa every winter, continue to stare at cloudy skies. The prolonged geopolitical turmoil in Russia and Ukraine, the economic chill in several parts of Europe and an escalating West Asia conflict are mainly to blame.
However, domestic travel is booming ahead of the festive and wedding seasons, said half a dozen travel operators ET spoke to.
Nearly 225,000-250,000 foreign tourists would come to India on charter flights during the peak season between October and April every year pre-Covid, according to industry estimates. This year, the number of travellers is estimated at just about 30-40% of the pre-Covid level as many charter companies continue to remain grounded in Russia with the number of flights dropping from 5-6 a day to 5-6 per week, industry experts said.
Most charter travellers are from Russia, the UK, Kazakhstan, Scandinavia and other European countries.
Adding to the woes, Israeli charter operators — who were planning to start bringing tourists to Goa this year — have put all travel plans on hold after the war with Hamas broke out earlier this month.
«My company was to start its first charter flights from Israel from November 1 but suddenly the war broke out and operators in Tel Aviv have put all flights on hold,» said James Kodianthara, managing director, Concord Exotic Voyages.
«We were expecting about 5,000 tourists over the next six months from Israel but now that seems unlikely.»
Nilesh Shah, president, Travel & Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), said: «This is the first time we were about to have a charter from Israel but that will not happen now.»
However, the biggest blow to charter
