E-visa is important for Goa to attract more visitors

Saturday, August 6, 2022

The Tourism Minister of Goa Rohan Khaunte said that giving away e-visa is essential for the state to witness flow of visitors, which the government is considering firmly.

Khaunte spoke during a conference of the World Travel and Tourism Council-India in Panaji.

Khaunte opined that the Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant in his impending assembly with the Home Minister Amit Shah will sort out the matter of e-visa concerning the UK. He said that they will try their best, since e-Visa is important for everyone – both for the government and tourists.

Earlier, Minister Khaunte had said that the tourism of the coastal state is principally reliant on the UK and Russia, along with some parts of Europe. The Goa government is taking all types of steps to witness a good footfall and tourist expenditure.

In 2019, about 71,27,000 domestic tourists arrived in Goa, and 9,31,000 were tourists from abroad. However, the number plunged in 2020 and 2021 with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in the coastal state.

Congress MLA Aleixo Sequeira has demanded that the central government needs to make the UK entitled for e-visa and also make visa fees equivalent to other countries.

Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) have also urged the Goa CM Pramod Sawant to persuade the central government to cover the UK, Canada, Kyrgyzstan and other countries for issuance of e-visas.

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