Goa’s tourism is changing, not dying

“I welcome people from the entire country to Goa,” said Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, while slamming social media influencers for spreading ‘wrong messages’.

Agencies

Goa: As the curtains fall on 2024, Goa finds itself caught between two competing images. On New Year’s Eve in 2021, thousands of revellers packed into Baga Beach during the Omicron wave sparking both alarm and awe. It was a symbol of India’s desire for “revenge travel”. Three years later, social media feeds are cause for a different kind of alarm and awe. Over the last few weeks, photos and videos of empty cafes and deserted lanes in Goa, during what should have been peak tourist season have been circulating online, reigniting the debate over whether Goa is well and truly dead as a tourist destination.

Fights have broken out in the comments sections. While domestic tourists compile a laundry list of complaints against the state, ranging from prohibitive flight and hotel costs, expensive food, and the “taxi mafia”, the state’s residents launch into their own complaints against uncouth tourists. To the surprise of no one, official statements chose to fight fire with fire. “I welcome people from the entire country to Goa,” said Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on 31 December.

“The months of November, December and January in Goa are going to be filled with tourists. All the hotels here are full, and I believe all flights to Goa have been booked.” Sawant went on to slam influencers for spreading the “wrong message”. Influencers are public enemy number one, according to the Goa government. Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte who last month filed a complaint against X user Ramanuj Mukhereelaims about the decline in Goa’s tourist numbers also lashed out against “paid influencers” .