“Permit and facilitate fully vaccinated foreign tourists who wish to come to Goa this season”: Reginaldo

PANAJI:  South Goa MLA Alexio Reginaldo Lourenco has appealed to the Centre and to PM Narendra Modi to permit fully vaccinated foreign tourists who have been coming to the coastal state for decades during the winter months to be issued visas and permitted to travel to Goa.

Lourenco has prayed that the Central Government issue visas to foreign tourists and make arrangements for charter flights under air-bubble arrangements with the UK, Russia and Germany.

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He also requested Goa CM Dr Pramod Sawant to insist upon and convince the Centre to permit air bubble arrangements for direct charter flights between nations like the UK, Russia, Germany, etc., from where Goa gets the maximum foreign tourists each season.

Small businessmen in Goa who run motels, guest-houses and lodges and rent them for long periods ranging from 2 to 4 months to tourists from the UK and Germany are totally dependent on these pensioners or elderly foreign tourists who come to Goa to escape the harsh winters in their home countries.

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Indian or domestic tourists stay for short duration – 3 to 5 days at the most, and do not rent these cottages and beach-side guest houses, as they prefer hotels, which are anyway offering discounts and dine at restaurants in the coastal belt. As compared to the Indian tourists, the foreign tourists like a room with an attached mini kitchen where they can cook their own breakfast and normally only dine at restaurants during the evening.

“Fully vaccinated foreign tourists particularly from the UK, Russia and Germany who have been visiting Goa for decades must be permitted to travel to their ‘second home’”, Lourenco told Indyatv.in.

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Small businessmen in Goa who run tourism-related businesses and have taken bank loans are presently living a hand-to-mouth existence. They have no source of income and another dud tourist season without foreign tourists will mean that many Goans will be reduced to starvation, Lourenco said.