Panaji, Mar 24 (IANS): In a bid to boost international tourist footfalls, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday in his budget speech, proposed subsidising of charter flight parking and landing fees at Goa's Dabolim international airport.

Sawant also announced a proposal to provide an interest grant on working capital loans to B, C and D category hotels registered with the Department of Tourism in order to support tourism industry stakeholders amid the pandemic.

"In order to promote and encourage entry of more international chartered tourists in the State, I propose to reduce the burden on chartered flights by bearing a part of parking and landing fees at Dabolim International Airport. For this purpose, I have made a provision of Rs. 5 crores for this year," Sawant said.

"In order to support the tourism industry, which has been adversely affected due to the pandemic, I propose to introduce the "Tourism Trade Support Scheme" wherein all registered B,C and D category hotels/accommodations and travel and tour operators with Department of Tourism, will be provided with a interest subvention on working capital loans upto Rs. 25 lakhs," Sawant said.

He added that he had allotted a sum of Rs. 5 crore as corpus for the initiative, which is expected to benefit around "more than 2000 hotels/accommodations and more than 1000 tour and travel operators".

The Chief Minister also said that the government was keen on developing villages for tourism purposes by promoting homestays, backwater tourism, experiential tours and the rich heritage.

"Model villages would be developed on unique themes such as tribal, agro, crafts, heritage and other such concepts, which would allow tourists to visit the offbeat locations in the State instead of concentrating only on the coastal belt," said the chief minister.

Goa is regarded as one of the best beach and nightlife tourism destinations in the country.