Goa's tourism thrives amidst baseless claims of reduced footfall. With bustling beaches, full hotels, and record-breaking revenues, the state remains a top choice for domestic and international travelers. Debunking misinformation, data reveals Goa’s growing appeal, driven by its pristine beaches, vibrant festivals, and unexplored gems. Goa’s charm, economic success, and cultural vibrancy continue to shine, making it a must-visit destination.
#GoaTourism #TravelGoa #BeachVacations #FestiveTravel #IndianDestinations #ExploreIndia #GoaVibes #TravelWithTruth
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#GoaTourism #TravelGoa #BeachVacations #FestiveTravel #IndianDestinations #ExploreIndia #GoaVibes #TravelWithTruth
~HT.178~PR.282~GR.125~ED.100~
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NewsTranscript
00:00So, welcome and thank you all of you for joining us today.
00:03Now, Goa, India's idyllic coastal state, is witnessing a remarkable surge in international
00:08tourism with a record influx of visitors in recent months.
00:12Now, this uptick comes at a time when China's state-backed propaganda has painted a different
00:18narrative, one that suggests declining interest in the region.
00:22But recent data is painting a very different picture, one that challenges these claims
00:26and highlights the resilience and appeal of Goa's tourism industry.
00:30Now, to discuss the significance of these numbers and the broader implications for India's
00:34tourism and how this influx might affect local communities, we are being joined today by
00:40Mr. Savio Rodriguez, Editor-in-Chief, Goa Chronicle, author, Modi Stole My Mask, and
00:46political advisor.
00:47Welcome, sir.
00:48Savio Rodriguez, Editor-in-Chief, Goa Chronicle, author, Modi Stole My Mask, and political advisor.
00:49Welcome, sir.
00:50Savio Rodriguez, Editor-in-Chief, Goa Chronicle, author, Modi Stole My Mask, and political advisor.
00:52It's a pleasure to be on your show.
00:53Much humbled.
00:55So, we'll straight off dive into today's topic.
00:58Now, what do you think, how is this season's tourism in Goa compared to previous years?
01:04Divya, to be absolutely brutally honest, having been somebody who travels the length and breadth
01:11of Goa, and I do it as a matter of being a person who enjoys the entertainment, the food,
01:18and the live culture that you see in Goa, I make it a point to visit as many places
01:24that I can.
01:25And I can tell you from whatever I've seen, contrary to this social media campaign that
01:29has been, unfortunately, been brought about to target Goa, I think Goa tourism and the
01:37kind of feedback we've seen over the last couple of months, with the impact of the fact
01:43that there was the festive season, there was the exposition of Francis Xavier, there was
01:51the general upheat about the EDM festivals, the Brian Adams show happening in Goa, various
02:01things contributed to the fact that there was a surge in tourism that has happened.
02:07While there has not been the official figures that have come out to compute the year-on-year
02:12statistics for 2024, the limited data that has come out from 2024, as you can see in
02:18the last month, which was an article carried on some of the medias, shows that there has
02:24been a marked improvement as far as tourist arrivals are concerned, as well as the revenue
02:30generated, and more importantly, the GST that tourism has contributed to the Indian exchequer.
02:39So a lot of people have this misnomer, Divya, that they feel that the foreign tourism, which
02:46has seen a slight decline, is the definition of what tourism in Goa is supposed to be.
02:51But that has never been the definition of Goa tourism for the last five years or so,
02:57because there has been a concentrated effort by the government to concentrate not only
03:02on the foreign tourists, but also the Indian tourists as well.
03:06Because we realize with the COVID crisis, when we were unfortunately in the world, unfortunately
03:12was hit by the COVID crisis, there was an absolute slump in tourism, and travel advisories
03:19were issued by foreign countries, and people were not able to travel.
03:23So even during the Russia-Ukraine war, there were travel advisories that were issued, and
03:28people were not willing to travel to Goa because of the Russia-Ukraine war.
03:33So in order to be dependent on just foreign tourists, the Goa government very strategically
03:40decided to focus a lot on Indian tourists.
03:45So where Indian tourists was about 3 million, and then you had foreign tourists that was
03:50about 4-5 million, now it's gone reverse.
03:54You've got the Indian tourists at about 8 million, and the foreign tourists at about
03:583 million.
03:59To us and to the tourism person doing business, at the end of the day, the tourist is a tourist.
04:07He's going to come and spend the same kind of money, whether that money is foreign currency
04:11or whether that money is Indian rupees.
04:14He is interested in ensuring that his business is run successful.
04:18So I think there's this lot of misinformation that has been going around, focusing on the
04:24foreign tourists, saying that it's dropped and many of the foreign tourists are going
04:28to Thailand and Vietnam.
04:31And if they are choosing to go to Thailand and Vietnam, so be it.
04:35But the tourism numbers in Goa have not dropped.
04:37The tourism numbers in Goa are actually increasing, and they are increasing because of the domestic
04:43tourists.
04:44Now, if you are going to tell me or many of these people commenting on social media are
04:49going to tell me that the Indian tourist is not as wealthy or monetarily capable as the
04:56foreign tourists, then I'm going to laugh at your face, because I believe the Indian
05:01tourist spends much more than the foreign tourists as far as Goa is concerned.
05:06And that's the reality.
05:07And strategically, it's definitely a smarter move to make when you do have such a, you
05:13know, huge population to tap within the country, then why not tap on that?
05:17So do you think that the narrative about declining tourism in Goa was an intentional attempt
05:23to damage the reputation?
05:25Yes, I do believe.
05:27And coming from a journalistic background and an investigation background as well, we
05:33have been doing ever since the first tweet we mapped of the negative comments that was
05:38coming on social media and negative articles that some media were trying to push to create
05:45a narrative.
05:46We started mapping out who are the probable reasons or who are the probable people that
05:51are behind this, and we've kept a tap on it.
05:54Even the Goa government per se is looking at it very minutely.
05:58What is certain is two things.
06:00One, a Sri Lankan-based casino company hired an Indian-based PR agency just to focus on
06:09damaging the reputation of Goa tourism so that a large number of the tourist inflow
06:15coming in because of the casinos in Goa could have moved to Sri Lanka, which has set up
06:22a mixed-use sort of project that caters to casino environment in Sri Lanka at this point
06:29of time.
06:30The second aspect of it is that many of them started to focus on countries like Thailand,
06:36Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and they started comparing Goa with all of these countries.
06:41I think they need to understand the difference between countries and states.
06:45Goa is a state, right?
06:47We are talking about India tourism can compare with Thailand tourism.
06:51And the experiences are very different, the people are different, all of it is definitely
06:56different from each other.
06:58Absolutely, because Goa tourism should compare with Pattaya tourism for that matter, or Krabi,
07:04which are small states or cities within Thailand itself.
07:09So if you want to compare apples to apples, then you have a comparison.
07:12If you want to compare apples to oranges, then you are really not comparing the right thing.
07:17So I think it has been deliberate.
07:20What we also believe is that there are certain quarters of people in the international markets,
07:25as you rightly said, China, because China does have an influence in Sri Lanka.
07:31China does have an influence in Thailand.
07:33China does have an influence in Vietnam.
07:36And these were the names coming out as alternatives to opting for Goa.
07:41So do I believe China has an intent on hitting Goa as far as tourism is concerned?
07:46I absolutely believe that.
07:48It is important for the Indian government and the Goa government to investigate the
07:54PR companies that were given the mandate to deliberately target the Goa state and Goa tourism.
08:04So let me ask you, Divya, if tourism has been growing from a domestic level, and they have
08:10seen a rise from 7 million to 8 million, and this year, I believe we should touch about
08:149 or to 9.2 million.
08:18If the tourism is rising, it's indicating something.
08:21You know, why should I say it for myself?
08:23The numbers itself will speak for it when the official data comes out.
08:27The point is, having traveled around the country, I catch a flight back every weekend to come
08:33back to Goa in order to see, you know, to be with my family, right?
08:39The flights are always full.
08:41I don't remember sitting in a flight that was empty into Goa.
08:45So I'm being realistic as far as the measures are concerned by a layman.
08:50Keep aside that I work with the government, keep aside that I'm an analyst and an investigator.
08:55The fact is, I can see this in front of my eyes, right?
08:58Last month I was there, even it was difficult to get bookings in the hotels also because
09:02majority of them were going completely booked.
09:05Precisely.
09:07And please understand, at any tourism destination that you are, you are always going to have
09:16different or different kinds of people coming in.
09:19You know, we get a lot of comments on Goa that, you know, Goa is not welcoming towards
09:23the Indian tourists.
09:24We welcome foreign tourists.
09:26That's not true.
09:27Because if we were looking at only foreign tourists, why would there be such a focused
09:32approach towards the Indian tourists?
09:34What the locals are getting upset about, Divya, is that, you see, with Goa comes the culture
09:40of Goa.
09:41And the culture of Goa is something that is more soft, more patient, more accommodating.
09:48You know, it's about music.
09:50It's about food.
09:51It's about a general camaraderie.
09:53Also, tell me, now Goa has over the years managed to maintain its appeal even as a premier
09:59tourist destination.
10:01So despite all the external criticism that happens, so how do you think that has happened?
10:09It's very simple.
10:11There are certain places in Goa, for example, when we look at the real estate aspects, okay.
10:17Now, if you look at a real estate villa in a place like, like very close to Panjim, which
10:23is, which is centralized capital city, there are villas selling at 50 crores, a five bedroom
10:29villa, a six bedroom villa.
10:31Now, why would somebody invest 50 crores in that?
10:35You're talking and competing as high as you would in, say, Gurgaon or certain parts of
10:41Bombay where you would spend that kind of money for a villa.
10:44So there is affluence.
10:46And tourism is not just in, you know, once upon a time, it just used to be the Bala,
10:52the Baga, Kalingoot space.
10:54Now it's just spread over from north to south.
10:58Asagaon has become big.
11:00And you just see, as you were talking about the villas, you see beautiful villas there,
11:04they have pools.
11:05So it's just definitely catering to the premium tourists that we are talking about.
11:10I'll give you a classic example, okay.
11:12So let's say you would, since you mentioned Asagaon, you might have a project in Asagaon
11:16where you can buy a villa for about seven to eight crores, okay.
11:20Seven to eight crores with a swimming pool, five bedroom villa, beaches nearby.
11:27You can give it out to Airbnb and earn your money.
11:30So people are looking at various different options.
11:32I have a friend who's purchased a villa in Kandolim, which belonged to a movie star,
11:39you know, celebrity.
11:41He comes there maybe once in two months for a week.
11:46But the rest of the time is given out on Airbnb.
11:49So everybody is seeing tourism.
11:51If it's Airbnb, it's definitely tourism, leisure or business for that matter, right.
11:56So Goa has become an attractive destination from an investor point of view as well.
12:02And he's looking at it as having a home that he can get money out of.
12:06And that is what most of those guys from outside of Goa are investing into villas for or apartments.
12:13Another unique concept, Divya, that's picking up in Goa right now from a tourism perspective,
12:18because the evolved traveler doesn't want to go and stay in a hotel.
12:22The evolved traveler wants to go and stay in an independent villa, or more importantly,
12:26in a homestay.
12:27You know, so he chooses a luxury Portuguese villa, or an old traditional Indian Goan villa.
12:35And he opts to pay top dollar, which would be higher than what he's paying in a five
12:39star hotel as well, to stay and have that experience.
12:43Absolutely.
12:44So, thank you so much, Savio, for joining us today and for your insights.
12:51Now, it is very clear that Goa's tourism is definitely thriving, no matter whatever external
12:57narratives are being spun around it.
13:00And thank you so much for tuning in.
13:01We'll keep you updated on this story.