Russia-Ukraine war, Israel-Palestine conflict have hit tourist inflow to Goa: Minister

Panaji: The Russia-Ukraine war and the ongoing conflict in West Asia involving Israel have shrunk the regular inflow of tourists to Goa from these countries, state Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte has said.

He was speaking to reporters here on Wednesday on the sidelines of the launch of Goa's new initiatives for boosting tourism in the coastal state.

Russia, Ukraine and Israel are the three counties from where Goa gets a sizeable number of tourists, he said.

"The crisis in which these counties are involved has shrunk the regular inflow of tourists to Goa," the minister said.

Elaborating on how Goa is trying to overcome the vacuum created by this, he said, "If you go by the absolute number of tourists that visited Goa in the last one year, it is higher compared to the previous year. It indicates that domestic tourists are filling the vacuum." However, it cannot be ignored that international tourists on an average stay in Goa for eight days, while the average stay of domestic tourists is four days, he said.

With the Goa government promoting some of its unique tourism destinations, the state is expecting a steady growth in the tourist influx, he said.

"At present, tourism contributes to 16 per cent of the state's GDP. We want it to grow to 20 to 24 per cent in the next three years," Khaunte said.