Goa now a popular tourist destination in monsoon too

Agencies
March 19, 2018

Panaji, Mar 19: The image of Goa seems to be changing to a 'monsoon destination', from being a popular summer hot-spot till now for vacationers.

This is so because there has been a 60 percent rise in the number of visitors to the coastal state during the rainy season last year, a Goa tourism official said.

Till sometime back, the state, known for its scenic beaches, used to receive foreign tourists mostly in the summer months while the monsoon time was traditionally a lean period.

However, as by data released by the state tourism department last week, there was a 60 percent rise in the number of tourists during the last year's monsoon season - between June and September.

This is a phenomenal rise as compared to 22 percent growth in the number of visitors in the same period in 2016, state tourism director Menino D'Souza said.

A total of 19.15 lakh tourists arrived in Goa last year between June and September, as against 11.93 lakh in 2016 during the same period.

"A total of 18.55 lakh domestic tourists visited the state during the monsoon season last year as compared to 11.48 lakh in 2016. Besides, there were 60,161 foreign tourist footfalls in that period last year as against 45,437 in 2016," D'Souza said.

As per the official data, the state recorded a 30.75 percent growth in tourist arrivals in June last year, 61.44 percent in July, 71.39 percent in August and 94.55 percent in September.

There has been a rise in footfalls because the Goa government is aggressively marketing and promoting the state as a "365-day tourism destination" with a focus on the monsoon months, D'Souza said.

"The monsoon time is now a preferred season for travel by both domestic and foreign tourists. This increasing attraction to the state can be attributed to the pleasant weather conditions during those months, scenic landscapes and adventure activities like white water rafting and trekking," he said.

During the last two to three years, the Goa tourism department has tried to turn the off-season (June to September period) into a bustling time for tourism stakeholders, and the hotel and hospitality industry, he said.

There has been an overwhelming response to activities like monsoon festivals and special packages offered for visits to waterfalls and springs during the rainy season, he added.

Comments

Sandesh
 - 
Monday, 19 Mar 2018

Previous week I saw some news that governor ask govt to shut escort services in Goa.

Mohan
 - 
Monday, 19 Mar 2018

In summer season Goa will be more HOT..!

Ganesh
 - 
Monday, 19 Mar 2018

Goa popular in all season. There is no offseason.. There they will get escort services and drugs. So tourists liked to go there even in summer season

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News Network
April 28,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 28: Karnataka has found that the rapid antibody test kits for COVID-19 that the Centre supplied to the state have only 47% sensitivity. The state will be returning the kits to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Karnataka had received 11,400 rapid antibody test kits from the ICMR a few days back, out of which it had sent around 200 of them to NIMHANS for validation.

After the ICMR, on Monday, sent a circular to all states to return the test kits to the suppliers, Dr CN Manjunath, Director, Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, and nodal officer for lab testing in the state's COVID-19 task force, said, "We have cancelled the orders we placed to Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech and Zhuhai Livzon Diagnostics for one lakh rapid antibody test kits. Since the ICMR supplied us with 11,400 kits out of the 6.5 lakh kits it procured, we will be returning the kits to them."

Manjunath told said that the validation at NIMHANS revealed the kits to have only 47% sensitivity. Sensitivity is the ability of a test to identify the true-positives in a population, i.e., the actual number of people who've been infected with the disease. With the rapid antibody testing kits being shelved, the state's plan to randomly test high risk groups has taken a backseat. 

So far, the state has tested 43,791 samples. 

Karnataka now has 22 testing facilities -- 14 government and seven private labs. Many private labs have not tested any samples so far because of the lack of test kits (the state has made it clear that it will not provide test kits to private labs). So, getting an ICMR approval for testing has become a moot point.p

Agreeing to the setback the state's plans of ramping up testing has taken, Manjunath said, "It is true that RT-PCR test kits are in shortage. Even Pune's Mylabs had a shortage in supplying test kits. But we are relying on institutes like Kidwai, Narayana Health and Biocon's Syngene that have received approval for testing. They're big institutes and we hope that they will test a large number of samples."

On reports that the Centre has RT-PCR test kits that will last for only a week, he said, "We have test kits that will last for eight to 10 days. We have ordered for more. We are hoping to receive them before the current kits run out."

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April 25,2020

New Delhi, Apr 25: Karnataka Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Saturday said that a journalist from Bangalore Urban, who has tested positive for COVID-19, is one out of 15 new cases reported in the state.

He further said that out of the 15 new coronavirus cases, six each are from Bangalore Urban and Belagavi and one each from Mandya, Chikkaballapura and Dakshin Kannada. The state's tally is now 489.

"#COVID19 Update: From 5 pm, 24th April till 12 noon today. A total of 489 cases, 15 positives, 18 deaths & 183 discharges," Sudhakar tweeted.

India's total number of coronavirus positive cases has climbed to 24,506 including 18,668 active cases, 5,063 cured/discharged/migrated and 775 deaths, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said today.

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News Network
May 29,2020

Bengaluru, May 29: The hotel industry is one of the worst-hit industries due to lockdown, along with the tourism industry. Bengaluru's hotel industry has incurred a loss of around Rs 1200 crore during the lockdown period however, the hotels here are likely to open in June if the State government issues guidelines for the resumption of their services.

Speaking to media, PC Rao, President, Bangalore Hotelier's Association said, "It's not only the loss of business, but we have lost the customer base as well. 
We don't expect any good future for the next six months. There will be a slow down in the business even after opening."

"We have requested our CM to give first preference to the hotels. We are going to restart our business in June if granted permission. Around 10 per cent of the hotels cannot open at all. They are in the stage of merging or closing down position. Few hotels may open after five or six months," he added.

He continued saying that many hotels are for sale but there are no buyers. There are around 21,000 restaurants in Bangalore, 3500 hotels with rooms and restaurant which has an average turnover of Rs 20 crores per day, Rao informed.

"We expect losses of around Rs 1200 crores in these two months. We are giving special online training to all the hoteliers and to our managers particularly to deal with the COVID-19 situation, including how to deal with the guests, employees, how to start the hotel services. 

Each and every manager has already been trained and we are still continuing it. We will conduct face to face meeting as well and brief the managers," said Rao.

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