Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that the Union Home Ministry has assured to resolve the United Kingdom visa issue at the earliest. Sawant told reporters – I have discussed the UK visa issue with Home Minister Amit Shah. It will be resolved soon. There were some issues related to the Ministry of External Affairs, so it was getting delayed. But he has assured us to solve it at the earliest. Many other issues related to the state were also discussed.
Sawant had met Amit Shah in Delhi recently. Expressing concern about the low number of foreign tourists due to COVID and other issues, the Travel and Tourism Association (TTAG) of Goa requested Chief Minister Sawant to persuade the Union Government to include the UK in issuing e-Visa.
Goa Forward Party president and MLA Vijay Sardesai claimed that the coastal state will suffer a loss of Rs 500 crore if there is a hurdle in obtaining tourist visas from the United Kingdom. Sardesai said I want to appeal to Tourism Minister Rohan Khunte and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to take up this issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for lifting the visa ban. We can come together and meet the PM on this issue. Sardesai said Goa is facing 7-8 cancellations of bookings per day in small and medium hotels due to the new visa restrictions by the Ministry of External Affairs. Sardesai had said – this is important because Goa receives at least 40,000 to 50,000 tourists annually from the UK.
