Despite the government's attempts to sell the idea of Goa as the perfect holiday destination to high-spending tourists, low-spending tourists make their way in. In 2017, Goa registered 6.9 lakh domestic tourists and the numbers in 2023 (upto May) were 3.6 lakhs.
Everyone wants a piece of Goa to take home, but the State will have to do much more than selling the idea of a perfect holiday destination to attract tourists of the right kind.
Goa also needs responsible tourists or how does one explain missing children who were traced at Baga and Colva beaches. The youngest was a three-year-old and the oldest was eight, thanks to the Drishti lifeguards.
In 2017, Bardez taluka welcomed around 25 lakh domestic tourists and in 2022 there was a slight dip with 24 lakh tourists. The highest concentration of foreign tourists, 2 lakhs, was in 2017 and the number dipped in 2022 with a mere 65,911 tourists.
Most tourists prefer beaches like Calangute, Baga and Candolim because of big presence of shacks. But on New Year's eve there is no control on tourists on these beaches.
As of March 31, 2023, Goa had a total of 5,922 hotels with 60,244 rooms and 95,853 beds, states a data complied by the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa.