Goa welcomes 1 lakh more tourists this Jan-May, compared to last year

Goa received 27,19,154 tourists for the period from Jan-May 2019 compared to 26,22,387 for the same period last year, witnessing an increase of 96,767 arrivals. According to statistics released by Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC), the tourism arrivals into the state have increased in the last three years. While in 2016, the tourist arrivals were 63,30,744, in 2017 it went up to 77,85,693 and in 2018 it was 80,15,400. Last year, the increase was minimal owing to the charter flights that stopped operating to Goa, especially from Russia. Earlier this year, the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa had submitted a white paper about the decline in the tourism to Manohar Ajgaonkar, Minister of Tourism, Goa, urging the state government to take urgent steps to address the dip in arrivals.