India taken off Russia's safe travel destinations list

Atleast 20,000 Russian tourists cancelled their plans to travel to Goa this season as the AAI hiked the charges for charter operators by upto 20%.

Tour operators also blame the downslide on the exponential increase in Goa's cost of living.

A survey conducted by IndiaWire found that 42% of Russians who visited Goa in the last 4 years do not want to return.

Facing a sharp decline in Russian tourism, Goans are looking to Poland, Holland, Latvia and Kazakhstan to fill in the void

Around 1000 Latvian tourists are to visit Goa this season and large numbers of Kazakh tourists are also expected

Goa Tourism Director Ameya Abhyankar said Polish and Dutch markets have shown considerable potential while West Asia and China are being considered as well

Travel advisories are updated/issued by countries during times of crisis either at home or at the destination.

The Russian information center stated that terrorism/security was not why Goa was struck off the list

Increase in cost of living and "ugly" incidents with locals are allegedly major factors in this decision.

The devaluation of the Rouble has made India too expensive for the average Russian

According to a recent INTERFAX report, India has been struck off Russia's safe travel destinations list

The revised travel advisories have been issued following Russia's recent issues with Turkey and Egypt

Goan tourism had already been affected following the devaluation of the Rouble

This move severely affects tourism in Goa as Russian tourists make up more than 30% of total tourists to Goa

Ekaterina Belyakova, the Russian Information Centre head in Goa clarified that Russia had "not removed" India or Goa from the list of safe destinations.

She said that in the meeting convened by deputy speaker of the Parliament of the Russian Federation, Ivan Melnikov, the discussion was on other safe destinations like Vietnam, Cuba etc and India had not been discussed.