Charters originally headed for Gulf turn to Goa due to W Asia conflict

Panaji: The ongoing conflict in West Asia may have an unexpected upside for Goa’s tourism sector. With popular destinations like Dubai, Egypt and Oman caught in the crossfire, international travellers are increasingly looking eastward, and charter operators said Goa stands to benefit. Major operators including TUI are already considering redirecting traffic to the state, with bookings for the coming season arriving earlier than usual.

The Indian Hotels Company Ltd, which is part of the Tata Group, has already received bookings while destination management companies like SITA and TCI are seeing strong bookings for flights for the coming tourism season.

“From the UK, TUI is coming with bigger numbers, in the sense that TUI is coming with wide-bodied aircraft. We have two chartered flights coming from Poland and they may increase to three. We have good numbers already. Bookings are coming from Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and we are also talking to new destinations like Croatia and Romania,” said TCI and SITA chief operating officer Ernest Dias.

He said the geopolitical uncertainty in the Gulf is working in Goa’s favour. “The international business, especially the charter business…looking very positive for the coming season mainly because there are some destinations across the Gulf where clients are a bit sceptical to travel. People find it safer to travel into Goa,” said Dias.

The optimism extends beyond charters. He said the FIT, or free independent traveller, segment is also gaining momentum, with bookings already confirmed for June, July and Aug, months that have traditionally been slow for international arrivals.

IHCL commercial director (Goa) Mausam Bhattacharjee said forward bookings for the Nov-to-March wedding season are already running 20% ahead of last year’s pace. “The next season, which is primarily the wedding season starting from the middle of Nov after Diwali until March, is already ahead of pace compared to how it was last year,” he said.

FIT international arrivals through Manohar international airport in the first quarter of 2026 were 19,324 passengers in Jan, 14,606 passengers in Feb and 9,608 passengers in March. In the same period, Goa saw 41 charter flights in Jan, while Feb and March saw 36 charter flights each.

Bhattacharjee said that while the booking trend for FIT tourists remains last-minute, hotels are often selling out by the day.