The collapse of Thomas Cook is going to be a big setback for the charter operators and the stakeholders in Goa who are mainly dependent on that business. The tourist inflow from the UK is expected to decline substantially this season. The alternate arrangements have been made to bring the British Tourists in Goa but did not work out. Despite that, it will not affect the tourism season in Goa as the inflow from other countries and quality domestic tourists are expected to increase.
According to the reports, due to the failure in the arrangement to bring the British Charters to Goa due to the sudden collapse of one of the biggest chartered company Thomas Cook UK, there will be a huge cut in the inflow of UK tourists this year.
A sudden bankruptcy of Thomas Cook last month has caused a huge setback to the stakeholders in Goa who were dependent on the British Tourist inflow. Until last year, the tour operator used to send seven scheduled flights every week in season from the UK to Goa with British tourists.
The failure of Thomas Cook Airlines to operate from the UK to bring the charters to Goa came as a shock to the tourism stakeholders who are dependent on that business, and the stakeholders were in process to make alternate arrangements to bring the charter tourists to Goa this season.
“Few stakeholders were trying to make arrangements to bring them through other flights, but their efforts have not resulted in much,” said the sources.
According to the sources, it is not an easy task to make alternate arrangements in such a short span of time and that has become major hurdle.
“It is very difficult to make alternate flight bookings at the last moment,” said the sources adding that the operator called ‘TUI’ is about to finalize one extra flight per week from the UK to Goa. With the extra flight, TUI is likely to bring four flights per week compared to three in the previous season.
The sources have revealed that adding just one flight will not solve the problem as against the seven flights that Thomas Cook used to send earlier from the UK. “This season fewer British tourists are expected to come to Goa. The fact that we will have six lesser flights from the UK per week and each flight used to bring 300 tourists should tell you about the impact,” said Mr. Ernest Dias, chief operating officer, Sita Travels and TCI.
Savio Messias, president, Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), said, “I think the State Government’s Tourism Department should step in to find some solution for this issue. Alternate arrangements can be made using Air India to bring the British tourists to Goa.”
Messias continued, “The government of Sri Lanka guarantees minimum load factor on planes to the charter operators. Our government can also follow a similar strategy to help us overcome this problem.”
Meanwhile the tourist inflow from the other countries including Russia is expected to grow this season. The high quality domestic tourism is also playing a huge role in the economy of Goa’s tourism industry and that is expected to grow. Overall this season looks to be a very promising expect to the exception of a reduction in Britishers.
Source: The Goan
