PANAJI: The upcoming tourist season, schedule to begin later this week, is set to start on the most positive note for the tourism industry in the state with many hotels in North as well as South Goa already being overbooked by the tourists, both domestic and foreign.

The tourism director, Mr Swapnil Naik said that such a heavy demand for accommodation in the state was not seen in the recent by industry so early in the season, particularly in the month of October. He also said that overall situation was very positive this year and hoped that the same would continue till the end of the season.

Mr Naik further said that with the Delhi government declaring holidays from October 3 till October 14, in view of the Commonwealth Games being held there, many people from the region has made bookings for hotel rooms in the state. He also said that this was for the first time in over five years that many hotels have been overbooked.

Mr Ernest Dias, vice president of SITA, informed that the tickets for the first two charters scheduled to arrive from Russia, beginning October 7, have been sold out, adding that a record number of tourists were expected to arrive this year from Russia. He also said that two regions from Russia that were not covered in the past have also been "hooked" and many tourists from there would be visiting the state for the first time.

He, however, lamented that visa issue still remained as an irritant for the growth of tourism and said that if we have to compete with the neighbouring countries, like Thailand, Sri Lanka, who were competing with Goa then the government should grant visas on arrival to the tourists.

Mr Dias also said that while the central government has decided to grant visa on arrival to tourists from Finland but that facility was available at the airports in four metro cities and not at the Dabolim airport where the charters from Finland land.

He further said that in some Scandinavian countries like Sweden, Denmark the issue of visa took as many as 21 days, which was too long a time and was affecting the flow of tourists to the country and the state. Among the other issues that the government needed to address were the cleanliness of beaches and parking at the airport, he added.