New International airport in Goa: A new international airport at Mopa, state-of-art convention centers and other facilities are part of the infrastructure expansion plans unveiled by the Government on Wednesday in order to revive tourism in Goa post the covid pandemic. Announcing infrastructure expansion plans, Nikhil Desai, Managing Director, Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) said that Goa is aggressively transforming the tourism industry in the state to bring it at par with the pre-pandemic volumes.

New International airport in Goa

Sharing the expansion plans, Desai said that in order to ease the air-traffic in the state, another airport is coming up in Mopa . The fully functional airport will serve both national and international travelers. This would also bring down the airfare drastically, as more airline carriers would be allowed in the state. “Existing airport has certain restrictions in terms of number of carriers, due to its affiliation with the defense forces”, said Nihil Desai.

He explained how the government is engaged in formulating the much needed policy framework to bring the tourism back on track. He said, “The local government is also very keen to develop the interior regions of the state at par with the coastal areas and new tourist-centric locations are being shortlisted and developed”.

The Mopa airport is expected to be operational by the end of October this year.

Apart from the new airport, Goa government is also coming up with 1400 seat convention center in Panaji and another similar convention center with a capacity of 5000 seats is being planned near the state capital. The move is planned to attract large groups to choose Goa as their event’s destination.

In order to address the shortage of staff being faced by various hospitality operators, the government of Goa has also planned a Goa Skill Development Institute that would be operated through a tie-up with various international institutions. The institute would train the local population in various skills such as tourist guides, underwater divers, waiters, shack operators and hotel management, to address the shortage of skilled labour in the state.

GTDC is also working on a plan to open a Sea-world park, on the lines of several international aquarium parks, to attract international tourists.

The announcements were made during a webinar organised by Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), India Chapter. Runeep Sangha, Executive Director, PATA, India chapter conducted the webinar and Nikhil Desai, was the guest speaker on behalf of Goa Government.

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