The past few weeks have seen Goa, the state of sunshine and beaches, in the news for all the wrong reasons. Travellers and travel influencers claim that the state’s once flourishing tourism business is in decline, while the state government has been quick to hit back, saying that business has never been better.
So, what’s the real picture? Is Goa’s tourism business taking a hit? Manav Thadani, co-founder of Hotelivate, a hospitality consulting firm, says there is no reason for alarm and that 2024 has been a good year for tourism in the state. He notes that it is hotels in North Goa, which hold about 55% of the state’s hotel inventory, that have seen a marginal decline of around 4-5% in Revpar (revenue per available room). South Goa has done well with hotels recording a 14% growth in 2024.
Jack Sukhija, president of Travel & Tourism Association of Goa, concurs, noting that most hotels have seen over 80% occupancy in December. He notes that 2022 and 2023 saw dramatic growth of about 40% because the pandemic triggered a ‘revenge travel’ trend. The state’s hospitality revenues this year grew at a similar rate to 2019, but Sukhija maintains that Goa will need to up its game to keep business growing. “In life cycle terms, you could say Goa’s tourism has hit middle age and that comes with a slew of problems that need to be addressed urgently. These include unplanned development and building of hotels, poor transport and waste management issues,” he says.
Music festival Sunburn too was held in a different venue, Dhargalim, which is off the popular beach stretches of North Goa. That is also why beach shacks near North Goan beaches saw smaller crowds in December.
New competition
Goa’s tourism is impacted by broader issues facing the tourism sector, points out Aalap Desai, CCO and co-founder, tgthr. “Steep flight and hotel prices have significantly impacted the affordability of Goa,” he says. Travel within the state is another bugbear, with private cabs charging huge fares and poor public transport facilities. Says Alok K Singh, co-founder and CEO, Travomint, a travel bookings platform, “The introduction of a unified visa for Southeast Asian countries will only make these locations more attractive than Indian destinations.”
The declining number of foreign tourists is a big worry. “International tourist numbers were significantly lower this year compared to pre-pandemic levels, largely due to reduced footfalls from markets like Russia and the UK,” says Rikant Pittie, CEO, EaseMyTrip. Goa had2.6 lakh foreign tourists till September 2024, less than half of 2019’s 9.4 lakh figure.
Which brings us to the need for marketing. Sandeep Goyal, chairman at Rediffusion cautions that Goa runs the risk of becoming another has-been location like Shimla. He says, “Goa has gone through an oversell and has become prohibitively expensive. Its tourism business urgently needs regulation. The government also needs to give not just Goa but all of India a marketing push to bring back foreign tourists and create greater aspirational value for vacation hotspots.”