Like it or not, tourist footfalls have reduced drastically this season, and if the peak of Christmas-New Year festivity is any barometer then the State has major reasons to worry. With the fear of the JN1 strain of Covid impacting tourism easing off, the only attribute given for a decline of foreign tourists was the two ongoing wars — the Russia-Ukraine crossfire and the Gaza unrest.
While Goa was swamped with desi tourists in December, like every other year, there has been a drastic decline in foreign tourists and going by the count at Dabolim airport, there has been nearly a 50 per cent drop, which is massive by any yardstick.
The question, however, is whether global conflicts and wars have genuinely affected Goa's tourism, or whether those have been conveniently used to cover up failures. There is an element of suspicion here because the two ongoing global scenarios have not affected other competing destinations like Kerala.
While official figures are not yet out for December, Kerala has recorded an unprecedented 116.25 per cent growth in foreign tourists in the first nine months of 2023. From over 2 lakh foreigners visiting the State in 2022, Kerala saw the figure jump to 4.47 lakh last year.
The State also improved upon its figure of domestic visitors from 133.81 in the first nine months of 2022 to 159.67 lakh, showing a 19.34 per cent growth. Gujarat too has shown a surge in foreign tourists up from 17 lakh in 2022 to over 20 lakh in 2023. Hence, the argument that Goa’s footfalls have plummeted because of international developments is misplaced because other competing States have shown a corresponding increase while Goa had a drastic drop of 50 per cent.
Here is the actual picture. In comparison to the pre-Covid figures of 2018, Goa showed a dip of a mere 1 per cent of domestic tourists in 2022 and a massive 82 per cent decline in international visitors. Indications are that cheaper destinations like Phuket, Colombo, Kuala Lumpur, Vietnam and Bali have emerged as far better holiday options, the theory of wars notwithstanding.
While Goa has seen some exciting plans unveiled in 2023, those have not translated into results, or rather, most of the plans have been work-in-progress. Concepts like Caravan tourism, spiritual tourism, staycation, heritage tourism and hinterland tourism have seen very little progress. Also, Goa is seen as an expensive destination when compared to places like Kerala or even Thailand which offer cheaper accommodation, food, transportation and more value for money.
We need to understand the change that tourism is undergoing more seriously rather than merely trying to debate quality and quantity. The fact of the matter is that Goa cannot ignore domestic tourists because they have been driving the sector, despite the nuisance they create. The difficult part is how to leverage between quality and quantity because those are two completely different genres of tourism with contrasting tastes.
While the slide is as clear as daylight, the government must introspect and course-correct before the situation becomes irreversible. Instead of remaining in the gloom of global events, Goa must find its feet again on this uphill tourism terrain.
