Foreign visitors to Goa have nearly halved from their pre-Covid peak even as domestic tourism is booming.
www.bbc.co.uk
Yet ANOTHER article written by a friendly neighbourhood Indian for the ever-neutral BBC, mentioning the problem (cancelled Gatwick-Goa direct route) but AVOIDING stating Pakistani airspace closure as the cause. The cope is hilarious.
"The axing of a direct London Gatwick-Goa Air India service has also had an impact.
Nicola, Alison and Dwayne have been visiting Goa every year for the last seven years
At a shack off Benaulim Beach north of Palolem, Nicola, a hairdresser who's come for three weeks with her friends Alison and Dwayne, told the BBC she had to do an unplanned layover in Mumbai because of the axed service, which was not convenient."
Then, of course, there is the usual contribution from 10,000 year old pangangetic civilisational behaviour:
"She said her brother chose to go to Sri Lanka instead this year.
"It's definitely more up and coming. He thought it was more affordable and also far cleaner than Goa," she said.
Dias says the government has ramped up its effort to keep the beaches litter-free, but admits that many roads leading towards them have been defaced by garbage - "not a good view", he admits, "especially for foreign tourists who are very particular about cleanliness".
Prohibitively high taxi fares as a result of the aggressive resistance of local unions to app-based services is also another "big problem", he says.
"It's like living in the Stone Age, you cannot get a taxi on your app in Goa because the local unions will confront them." "