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Published on : Saturday, September 5, 2020
Tourism stakeholders of Goa have recently explained that it will take at least 10-15 days to witness the effect of the decision of the state government in lifting entry limitations and restrictions for tourists. Goa Chief Minister, Mr. Pramod Sawant on August 31st, declared that the state has raised all restrictions on tourist entry and that tourists will no longer require presenting a negative Covid-19 certificate or taking an immediate test on entering the state. To quote Shah, “It is a positive sign that the restrictions have been lifted. Business will pick up gradually. But we need o do more. We will get the correct figures next week.”
Former TTAG President, Savio Messias, has mentioned that one will have to hang around for some time, at least till next weekend, to see the impact.
Hotel bookings until last week ranged between 4-5 %.
In July, after launching a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the hotel industry, the tourism department of Goa has granted permission to almost 500 hotels to start operations. Approximately 300 hotels were got permission in July but few actually started operating. Others remained closed as the entire scenario appeared too costly for them to operate with bookings.
They planned to recommence their operations in October-November 2020.
Shah stated that hotels have been getting lots of queries and though all might not translate into business but at present there is better scope for travelers to plan Goa vacation. He said that in states like Rajasthan, which had no entry restrictions, hotels did good business on weekends.
Tags: goa, tourist entry