In 2012-13, the Department of Tourism, Government of Goa registered a record arrival of 27.8 lakh tourist in the state of Goa of which 4.5 lakh were foreigners as against 26.7 lakh, which includes 4.45 lakhs foreigners, during 2011-12, showing an increase of 4.4% in the inflow.
Goa also witnessed an increase in arrival of chartered flights in 2012-13. According to Goa Tourism Department statistics, 987 chartered flights carrying 2.15 lakh tourist landed in Goa between October 2012 and May 2013. As against this, only 910 flights carrying 1,69,006 passengers touched down in Goa in 2011-12.
These chartered flights during October 2012 to May 2013 were from nine international destinations. Of this, about 742 arrived from Russia followed by 152 flights from United Kingdom.
Similarly, the number of cruise ship arrivals in Goa has also seen an increase with 25 vessels carrying 22,233 passengers in 2012-13 as against 20 vessels carrying 11,946 passengers last year.
Mr. Nikhil Desai, Director, Department of Tourism, Government of Goa, said, “In this tourist season, Goa did extremely well – better than previous years. We are delighted to see the upswing in the arrivals of domestic and foreign tourists, which touched an all-time high. Goa has emerged as a preferred destination for MICE, weddings and also leisure. Positive steps have been taken by the Government such as introduction of water sports policy, security force on Goa beaches, improvement of tourism infrastructure, marketing and promotional efforts, etc. which have paid off good dividends. However, for a sustained inflow, there is always sc
