Tourists will make busy airport busier

Goa and Singapore, besides being popular tourist destinations, share another statistical similarity; the annual tourist traffic to both these places far outnumbers their local populations. But, unlike in Singapore, tourists can make things much more crowded for comfort at the airport if expansion plans are not implemented urgently.
The tourist traffic to Goa did not wait for Goa to top the Conde Nast list of world’s top destinations in 2007. "Around 3.5 lakh foreign tourists landed in Goa in 2004-’05; the percentage rise from the previous year was 28 per cent. It was the strongest growth figure registered in a decade," an Airports Authority of India (AAI) official said. International passenger traffic has seen a steady growth — from 1.6 lakh foreign tourists in 1996-’97 to 4 lakh in 2006-’07 — but now it has hit a plateau; the percentage growth in foreign tourists in 2006-’07 was only .02, perhaps the lowest in the decade.
But the party is far from over. "Domestic traffic is slated to increase dramatically and crowding will become an annual affair," the AAI official added. "With sky-rocketing salaries, the next round of growth will be in domestic tourist traffic. Around 18 lakh domestic tourists hit the beaches of Goa in 2006-’07 (5 lakh in 1996) and, by 2012, the domestic tourist traffic is expected to touch 55 lakh," a civil aviation ministry official said.
09/05/08 Manju V/Times of India

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Categories: Airports May 2008