Goemkapronn desk
PANAJI: The arrival of foreign tourists in Goa registered a rise of 138.69 percent as of November 2023 compared to 2022, the Minister for Tourism, Shri. Rohan A. Khaunte said today.
He was replying to questions by the opposition in the Goa assembly. Total tourist arrivals in Goa in the year 2023 are estimated to be 80.48 lakh indicating an increase of 17.9 per cent over the previous year, Shri. Khaunte told the house.
“As of November 2023, 4.03 lakh foreign tourists have arrived in Goa,” Shri. Khaunte said. The arrivals of domestic tourists too have seen a rise. In 2019, the year that saw the COVID-19 pandemic disrupt the entire world economy, there were 71.27 lakh domestic tourists. “Up to November 2022, domestic tourist arrivals in Goa were 72 lakhs,” Shri. Khaunte pointed out.
Khaunte reiterated in his reply to queries from the opposition that the government was strategizing, promoting, and marketing initiatives of Goa tourism across the world due to the war involving Russia. It was a setback to the government and so was the conflict in Israel, Shri. Khaunte pointed out. This prompted the government to explore other avenues such as France and other parts of Europe.
These initiatives, he asserted were not ‘junkets’ as alleged by the opposition, but sincere efforts of the government to connect with businesses and other stakeholders to attract them to India. It was with this intention that the government was participating in international events such as the World Travel Market. Goa was among the few states in India or even the world to recover from the impact of COVID19 because of the series of initiatives taken by the government, he stressed.
Khaunte invited members of the opposition to join the government in these initiatives so that they could see for themselves the networking that the Department of tourism was doing.
Among the initiatives being promoted by the Goa tourism department are spiritual tourism, cultural tourism, eco-tourism, and conference tourism.
