Over 86 lakh tourists visited Goa in 2023, says Tourism minister

Goa Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte recently said that the number of tourists visiting the state saw a rise in 2023, compared to the pre-pandemic period.

His remarks came after a social media post last week sparked a row about the shape of Goa’s tourism industry.

Ramanuj Mukherjee, an entrepreneur on Nov 5 had remarked in a post on X that Goa tourism is “down in dumps”. He further claimed that foreign tourists have “abandoned the state” by sharing data of declining foreign tourist footfall.

The post irked the state’s tourism department, leading it to file an official complaint with the cyber crime police station in Panaji against Mukherjee.
“You cannot protect Goa tourism merely by managing the narrative or suppressing criticism. Real action is needed based on the feedback received. The conversations are merely beginning to get around. It is not business as usual.” Khaunte said.

The complaint called Mukherjee’s post “an incident of public mischief”.

In his post, Mukherjee had written, “Look at 2019 v 2023 numbers. Russians and Brits who used to visit annually have opted for Sri Lanka instead.”
He added that domestic tourists are still visiting Goa, they are likely to pick “cheaper comparable locations abroad” as word about the “exploitation of tourists” spreads.

However, Khaunte said that 81,75,460 domestic tourists and 4,52,702 international tourists visited Goa last year, totalling to 86,28,162.

In 2019, 71,27,287 domestic tourists and 9,37,114 international tourists had visited Goa—80,64,400 in total. This indicates a rise in the number of total tourists, compared to pre-pandemic figures, he said.

“The report of UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organisation) talks about how Asia is yet to recover post-pandemic, and we are still at minus 18 % (tourist footfall). So, as a country, we are recovering from the impact of the pandemic, where the whole shift of consumer behaviour and preferences has started,” he was quoted as saying.

He added that as travellers are prioritizing hygiene, social distancing and contactless services, the Goa experience is now different, referring to the acceleration in digital adoption of services.

“We need to understand that the international numbers, and especially the Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs), the foreign travellers, have surpassed the percentage the country has received in terms of the post-COVID percentage. So, here we are talking about a figure as low as 52,000, which is 50 % of pre-pandemic figures in terms of international recovery, but yet, the recovery in FTAs is much higher,” he said.

According to him, the Goa Department of Tourism has been sourcing this information from the two airports and other tourist hotspots in the state.
Regarding the row ignited by Mukherjee’s post and the data shared by him, Khaunte said that Goa can no longer take such controversies at the onset of the tourism season.

“Every influencer—whether it is a paid influencer or whatever—tries a different plan every year. Last year too, some influencers…paid influencers tried this,” he said.

“If we do not attend to this in terms of complaint, then the maligning or misrepresentation of Goa will continue. Our prime minister is talking about ‘Chalo India’ and ‘Dekho Apna Desh’. Every state today is competing, collaborating or cooperating. And here you have somebody just coming and giving figures, which are unknown to anybody.” he added.