For the first time in the history of Goa’s tourism, Goa’s Dabolim airport recorded the highest charter arrivals of 1020 flights till April 30, 2013.
Dabolim airport director M Suresh said that normally Goa gets not more than 900 charter flights in the full tourism season ending in May. This year, Dabolim received 943 charter flights in March itself. The charters arrived from countries like Russia, Germany, UK, etc. but charters from Russia were the maximum with the Russian airline Oren Air alone flying 193 charters into Goa till date.
The inbound traffic at Dabolim is expected to swell with the commissioning of the new, modern terminal building with an area of 62,000 square metres and four floors. Built at a cost of Rs 388.53 crore, the new terminal is expected to be ready by June this year. It will be extremely passenger-friendly with five aerobridges and a peak-hour passenger handling capacity of 2750 passengers. The handling capacity of the existing 16,500 square metres terminal building is only 700 passengers. The new terminal will handle four million passengers per year, Suresh said.
Courtesy: TOI
Quoting Anna Hazare, a leading mine owner here today said that there should be a referendum on whether the current Supreme Court-imposed ban on mining activity in Goa should continue.
“Anna Hazare had said let the people of Goa, connected with the mineral activity, decide. In the same spirit, I also feel that let the people of mining industry decide the fate of this economic activity through a referendum,” said Auduth Timblo, chairman, Fomento Resources. Timblo is involved in mining in Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Hazare had made the statement here a few months ago, saying that local people should decide whether they want mining in the area. Timblo further said that such a referendum should be limited only to mining belt, because “people in Panjim or Mapusa are little aware of the importance and impact of this activity”.
Mining in Goa has come to a halt since September last year following the apex court’s interim order. Timblo also claimed that mining activity in the state was not as polluting as the propaganda made it out to be, and its impact on the public health was zero. “This has been proved by primary health checks by government and the top mineral development companies. The people living in mineral belt are healthier than others,” he said.
Tiblo, who is a party to the PILs before the Supreme Court, said 95 per cent of the mining in the state was within the legal framework. He also said that some “super-technical” and archaic rules could not be adhered to and were broken, but it did not make the entire activity illegal.
Courtesy: ET
A few traditional artists, who engage in making idols of Lord Ganesh, have expressed disappointment over non-payment of their subsidies and have set a deadline of a week to the Goa handicrafts rural and small-scale industries corporation.
“We were happy that we would get last year’s subsidy. We could have utilized it to purchase clay, colour and other materials for the forthcoming Ganesh festival,” Ramakant Shetkar of Kumbharwada, Bordem said. Shetkar is one of the senior most idol makers in the area. ”We had submitted the files well in time and complied with the necessary formalities by September 2012,” another artist said. The artists requested the government to look into the matter and release last year’s subsidy within a week to enable them to make preparations for the next festival.
The government had assured the artists a subsidy to encourage them to make eco-friendly Ganesh idols. The proliferation of idols made from plaster of paris, as they are cheaper in cost, had evoked protests from environmentalists. The material is not eco-friendly and the paint contains toxins. The immersion of hundreds of idols in water bodies poses a threat to water bodies and aquatic organisms.
Sources said the corporation has kept the files though scrutiny and other procedures have been completed. Vilas Kunkalyekar, Sadashiv Harmalkar and Gokuldas Harmalkar also called for the early release of the subsidy.
Courtesy: TOI
The union environment and forests ministry has asked the Goa government to send proposals to set up a tiger reserve at the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary, parliament was told Monday.
The ministry has also asked the Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh governments to send similar proposals to start tiger reserves at Bor and Nagzira (Maharashtra), Suhelwa (UP) and Guru Ghasidas national park at Chhattisgarh, Environment and Forests Minister Jayanthi Natarajan told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.
The Goa forest department had last month for the first time photographed a tiger at the Mhadei sanctuary in north eastern part of the state, 60 km from Panaji, after a several month-long expedition. Natarajan further said that her ministry had granted in-principle approval for creation of four new tiger reserves at Pilibhit (Uttar Pradesh), Ratapani (Madhya Pradesh), Sunabeda (Odisha) and Mukundara Hills (Rajasthan).
She further said that final approval has been accorded to Kudremukh wildlife sanctuary in Karnataka for declaring it as a tiger reserve.
Courtesy: BS
The Goa Tourism Department has adopted a new marketing strategy to the state nationally and internationally. Dilip Parulekar, Minister for Tourism, Woman & Child Development, Government of Goa, said at the recent Goa Assembly about the new methods of marketing used for promoting the state by his department. The Department will release advertisements in print and electronic media in India and abroad to market and promote Goa, according to a report by Bindiya Chari in The Times of India.
Also, a brand consultant will be appointed to develop brand architecture, work out creative options and implement a brand strategy for the state’s tourism.
The Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) will organise FAM trips for foreign and international tour operators and media to market destination Goa. The state government is also focusing on new markets of Far East, South East Asia, Australia, USA and New Zealand. Efforts are being made to attract high-end tourists. A golf course is proposed to be developed in Tiracol village in North Goa.
Courtesy: travelbizmonitor
