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Fernandes holds the key to brighter Goa tourism

Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panaji

Goa's tourism can get a further boost, provided the defence ministry relaxes its rigid rules to allow chartered flights to land more frequently at Dabolim airport in Panaji.

The ball is presently in the court of Union Defence Minister George Fernandes, following a request made in this regard by Goa Chief Minister Dr Wilfred de Souza.

The civilian traffic at Dabolim airport in Panaji has been using part of the naval airport right from the beginning. And the naval authorities have allowed landing of chartered flights only thrice a week -- Friday, Saturday and Sunday -- for six hours from 0630 hours.

''Our main headache is not getting the tourists but the landing facility at the airport,'' said travel agent Martins Joseph. ''Why are the naval authorities restricting the traffic when nobody benefits?''

Tourism Director U D Kamat, however, is confident that the chief minister's request would be accepted since the defence minister fully agrees with the state government's contention. Fernandes has reportedly given an assurance that the long-pending issue would be resolved soon.

Charter tourism, which suffered a major setback in 1996 when Goa received 55 fewer chartered flights, has been showing a steep rise since last year. The charter season, which begins in October and ends in May, reported almost 340 flights compared to hardly 282 the previous year.

''The number is expected to increase further this year,'' said Kamat. He has booked 14 slots in a week for total 353 flights, out of which 236 are from the United Kingdom alone.

The UK scene, however, is on the decline, showing a 12 per cent fall in flights in the last four years.

The first flight from London, carrying 285 passengers, landed at Dabolim airport earlier this month. Charter traffic would gain momentum soon, with around 25 flights each arriving from Finland, Switzerland, Germany and Holland. As many as 13 flights are expected from Sweden.

Though the number of flights from Germany, Italy, Finland and Austria is declining, the numbers from Holland seems to have almost doubled. More tourists are also coming from Switzerland and the USA, who are the ones who actually spend more, said Kamat.

But for how long would the upward trend continue is still a question since the state is presently not in a position to improve its deteriorating infrastructure.

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