Sun, Sand, and Shortfalls

Was Goa’s festive season was tepid?

As we wind down on 2025, and with Christmas behind us, travel and tour operators in Goa will be assessing how good the season was for earnings and business. When this writer asked for the booking in a small-budget seaside resort, he was told that a room may be available for the last 2 weeks of December but the January-February period was difficult.

So, did tourists give Goa a miss this December? Going by local media, the holiday season has not brought in the kind of footfalls expected. Luxury car operators, for example, reportedly said that their bookings were down, and they had many unbooked cars. For some time now, there have been reports suggesting that tourists are not making a beeline for the sunshine state, preferring the more affordable Thailand.

Also, the chaos of cancelled flight bookings, the resultant high prices for air travel, the fire at a North Goa eatery in which 25 people died, and the now legendary taxi mafia – may well have scared tourists away.

Goa no longer hosts the year-end Sunburn festival that brought in people in their hundreds. The traditional Christian feast of the Jesuit educator and saint Francis Xavier brought in large numbers last year but this year, the numbers were probably back to the normal.

According to the India Data Tourist Compendium put out by the ministry of tourism, an estimated 10 million visited Goa in 2024, of which just over 9 million were domestic tourists. The report which contains fascinating data on India’s tourism arrivals both Indian and foreign among other data, suggests that Goa’s domestic arrivals accounted for 0.34 percent of domestic visitors while foreigners accounted for 2.23 percent of all arrivals.

The report also states that the Fort Aguada Complex, situated strategically on the coast saw 13,58,790 tourists and 13,025 foreigners respectively. The report also states that Goa’s two airports (Mopa and Dabolim) together accounted for 1.95 percent of foreign tourists’ arrivals, underscoring the state’s Goa’s continued popularity as a beach destination.

The situation may likely improve in the first months of the new year as the air traffic situation eases, and tourists feel safer to arrive in Goa. State authorities initiated a drive to identify and close down tourist establishments that did not have the required permissions to set up, and may have not adhered to safety guidelines .

At the end of the day, many of Goa’s tourists are middle class who really cannot afford the five-star properties and want value accommodation for their families. The state needs to do a lot more to provide such accommodation and also ensure that intra-state travel is safe and affordable. Can Goa Bounce Back in 2026?

(The writer is a senior journalist based in Goa. Views personal.)