Goa is the epitome of vibrant nightlife, picturesque beaches, and stunning landscapes accompanied by a culinary scene renowned for its amazing seafood. Still, Goa is seeking to be more than just some pretty beaches. However, Goa faces low international tourism figures, and thus, it has much to do to come out of this situation.
Officially, Goa Tourism discloses some unfavourable statistics: the number of foreign tourist arrivals in 2023 is less than half of the figures recorded in 2019. There were only 450,000 visitors in 2023 compared to the 937,000 recorded earlier.
The decline has thrown tremendous challenges to the tourism industry, which is the lifeblood of the state economy and is highly dependent on incoming international visitors. Many contributing factors, ranging from transport issues to security concerns, service fee costs, infrastructure problems, and diplomatic tensions, are causing this shift and affecting, in turn, businesses that depend on foreigners.
Reasons for Goa’s declining tourism numbers:
The Taxi Mafia: A Growing Barrier to Tourism
The tourism industry in Goa has been severely affected by the existence of ‘taxi mafias.’ These powerful operators command a large share of taxi services across the state and have earned a reputation for exploiting both tourists and locals.
Goan taxi operators are infamous for charging more than the estimated rates, not using metered services, and rejecting the implementation of government laws. Many tourists, mostly foreign visitors, face such offputting experiences where they feel cheated or mistreated.
Some visitors have reportedly experienced instances of intimidation when they negotiated prices or when taxi drivers turned them away unless they agreed to pay very high prices. Recently, an X user posted a shocking experience: “Once in Goa, we gave a lift to a foreign tourist in our car. Some taxi guy stopped us and asked us to get him down, or they would break the car. Goa tourism is ruined majorly by how the taxi mafia behaves. This has never happened in Pushkar or Udaipur.”
Similarly, visitors in Goa often find themselves having to surrender to the outrageous rates set by taxi operators since services such as Ola and Uber work on predetermined fares with real-time tracking.
The taxi mafia exerts a significant influence on the entire experience that a tourist has to endure during a visit to Goa. All that the tourist can do in this regard is rely on such service providers as his primary mode of travelling, because other options are not always available or, if present, charge too much or are unavailable for rental.
Bad reviews, which spread like wildfire in cyberspace and have badly damaged the reputation of Goa being ‘tourist friendly,’ are also due to inflated costs and occasionally aggressive behaviour from taxi drivers.
Geopolitical Tensions Impacting Influx of Foreign Visitors
The current Russia-Ukraine conflict and Gaza unrest have severely impacted the inflow of tourists from those places. For instance, according to The Goan Everyday, before the pandemic, there were at least five daily charter flights from Russia to Goa. This has now been drastically reduced to just a few flights a week.
Goa has also lost many Israeli tourists lately, as unstable political conditions have led to putting charter flights from Israel on hold. These geopolitical issues have also made tourists from such countries hesitant to travel. In addition, the delayed release of India’s E-Visa for UK nationals has tarnished the smooth inflow of European tourists.
Still, hope lies in the potential to continue attracting more tourists from the more developing countries, such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, which have just started contributing very slightly to the totals.
Overly Expensive Hotel Prices
Goa Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte recently opened up not only about the problems pertaining to the taxi mafia but also regarding the overpriced hotel charges. Tourists brought up that Goa’s costs had heightened rapidly, and it was expensive to travel to even when compared to international spots like Bali, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka.
Khaunte explained that hotel prices and airfares are essentially related to the concept of supply and demand. “We have two airports, and connectivity is established—but there is scope to increase the number of airlines, both domestic and international. If that happens, we may see (lower) rates,” Khaunte said in an interview with ANI Editor Smita Prakash.
Referring to hotel pricing, Khaunte said the government’s role is limited in this regard and added, “As a government, we need to understand we can’t curb rates; they are driven by market forces. So as they are driven by market forces, tomorrow if the supply is more and demand is less, rates will automatically get rationalised.”
Potential Economic Impacts of Goa’s Dipping Tourism:
Reduction in Tourism Revenue
Direct revenue losses: Tourism to Goa contributes significantly to state revenues from hotels, transport, food, entertainment, and shopping. A decline in tourism directly cuts income for hospitality, travel, and leisure businesses.
Effect on state economy: The tourist-dollar-dependent GDP of the state is sure to go down with decreased tourist inflow, which also ensures lower economic growth.
Job Loss
Unemployment: Fewer tourists may reduce demand for tourism-related industries like hotels and transportation companies, leading to layoffs or shorter hours. This also hurts workers in sectors like agriculture and retail, which depend on tourism spending.
Seasonal employment: Goa has many seasonal workers dependent on tourism. Reduced tourism means fewer job opportunities for them, straining the local economy.
Lower Government Revenues
Taxes and levies: A sizable portion of the revenue of the state accrues from taxes such as GST, hotel taxes, and entry fees for tourist attraction sites. Fewer tourists would automatically result in lower revenues and lower spending on public services and infrastructure.
Lost tourism revenue could hamper the state’s investment in critical infrastructures such as roads, public transport, and healthcare facilities, affecting the overall life of the residents of the state.
Effect on Small Businesses and Local Entrepreneurs
There are the street vendors, souvenir shops, and small restaurants that survive mainly due to tourism in Goa. A fall in the number of tourists could dramatically affect such local businesses and cause them to have financial difficulties.
Supply chain disruption: Suppliers that service the tourism sector may have low demand and consequently affect local manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers.
Investments in Real Estate
Less foreign investment: Tourism in Goa has attracted local and overseas investments, particularly in real estate. A decline in tourism would discourage investors from investing in hotel properties and resorts.
Impact on real estate: A slowing tourism industry may stagnate the real estate market, especially for tourist-targeted properties like vacation homes and short-term rentals, potentially leading to decreased property values and lower investment returns for developers and investors.
Cultural and Social Impacts
Loss of cultural exchange: Tourism in Goa fosters cultural interaction and a vibrant atmosphere. A decline may reduce its cosmopolitan nature, limiting the engagement of local communities’ with diverse cultures.
Economic pressure might lead to socially charged unrest, hurting people whose economic mainstay is tourism and forcing them into emigration, protests, or even unrest within the community.
Environmental Impacts
A decline in tourism would probably reduce environmental pressure on Goa, such as waste and pollution generated from tourism-related activities. However, the economy’s heavy reliance on one sector complicates resource redirection to other sectors without external aid.
Sustainability concerns: This decline in tourism may enable Goa to focus more on sustainable, low-impact practices; therefore, planning and investment will have to change.
Increased Domestic Tourism
Domestic tourism growth: With a decline in international arrivals, there may be an increase in domestic tourists. Yet, domestic tourism typically earns less per capita than international visitors, and local businesses may still face challenges from these demand shifts.
Potential Strategies to Revive the Tourism Sector:
The loss of foreign tourists has brought about the call for urgent government intervention to solve the ongoing issues. Industry leaders are advocating for measures such as a reduction in visa fees and landing charges at airports and simplification of the visa-on-arrival process.
These, they argue, would make Goa more competitive with other destinations like Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia, which offer lower costs and better infrastructure. There is also a drive for better infrastructure, such as improvements in public transport, beach amenities, and the general tourist experience, so that when the geopolitical tensions ease, Goa will be at the top of the international visitor list once again.
The Government of Goa also places immense focus on niche tourism areas such as eco-tourism, adventure tourism, and cultural tourism. This can be seen through improving the infrastructure and facilities, propagating local culture, and cooperating with the other stakeholders involved.
Can Goa revive its former status of tourism appeal?
As long as the future of the tourism sector in Goa remains uncertain, there is always a hope for improvement in the next few months. The performance of the tourism industry from November through March, its peak season, could decide the future of this industry. Goa must respond to shifting demand trends and adapt to a constantly changing world by adjusting its needs, from the influence of geopolitical situations to its old infrastructure. Targeted steps should be taken to ensure that it can be quickly and efficiently to its place as one of Asia’s best tourist destinations. However, this would need cooperation between local businesses and government agencies to return to its past glory.
Written by Koena Paul
Edited By Prisha khemka
