“Tourism is not a department, it’s an industry for Goa,” said Goa’s tourism minister, Rohan Khaunte addressing the national media after a first of its kind stakeholders conclave to chalk out strategies to overcome any negativity that has come into the tourism eco-system due to what he called as attempts to “malign” the reputation of “Parasuram-Bhoomi”.
Tourism contributes over 16 percent of the GDP of the state and supports 35 percent of the employment, the minister said, explaining the vital importance of the sector and the industry for Goa.
“We have to respond collectively against the misinformation campaign that is happening against the state,” the minister said, inviting even opposition parties in the state to forget differences and join hands to fight the malicious campaign to defame the state and its tourism.
Goa has added 770 classified hotel rooms in the last one year. The number of hotels in the states have tripled in the last three years—from 3000 (2022) to 9000 (2024), because of effective implementation of ease of doing business.
The tourism minister and the director of tourism of the state, Suneel Anchipaka tried to deflate the reports by social media influencers that “hotels are going empty” during the festive season, by citing tourist numbers collected from stakeholders, including airports, airlines, hotels, railways and OTAs.
As per the figures furnished, the state had witnessed a growth of 21 percent in domestic tourist footfalls in 2024. There has been 54 percent growth in tourist footfalls in the month of December 2024 compared to the same month in the previous year, the director said. In the quarter ended on December 31, 2024, the state experienced a growth of 38 percent in tourist footfalls compared to the previous year, he said.
To further cement his point, the minister said that around 200 flights operated to Goa on a daily basis in the month of December 2024, which is a record number for the state.
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The tourism minister said that the stakeholders conclave has deliberated on opportunities and challenges in varied sectors of tourism – cruise tourism, beach tourism, ground transportation, waste management, tourism infrastructure, safety and hygiene – and decided to recommend them to the Goa Tourism Board meeting scheduled to be chaired by the Chief Minister of the state.
“We need to improvise the stakeholders to adopt technology to improve visitor experience at every level,” the minister said, talking about the resistance among the taxi operators against app based operators in the state.
“Technology is here to stay. We cannot run away from that. They can do it on their own or join the apps available,” the minister said.
The minister also took exception to those comparing Goa which is a state with countries like Sri Lanka, Thailand, etc. He said that his state has no control over air connectivity, capacities, seat allocations, visa, etc. and has to work with the central government even on international charters.
Khaunte said that the government is giving importance to quality over quantity and the regenerative tourism is a step in that direction and more corrections on the tourism policy front is in the anvil to position Goa as a premium experiential tourism destination.
