Panaji, Oct 2 (IANS): International tourists may be able to travel to India by October 15 and an announcement is likely to be made by the Central government soon, Union Minister of State for Tourism Shripad Naik said on Saturday.

"As corona decreases, we will start national and international tourism. The announcement will be made soon and there is a possibility of it beginning after October 15," Naik told reporters on the sidelines of a Gandhi Jayanti function here.

"International flights have started and we have requested for charter flights to resume by a particular date so that people can book trips to India and nowhere else," he added.

International charter flights account for a bulk of the foreign tourist footfalls to Goa.

Earlier this month, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had forwarded a request made by travel and tourism industry stakeholders to the Union Home Affairs Ministry urging the latter to grant permissions to international charter flights at the earliest.