Goa is a hotbed of activity as the holiday season reaches its peak with Christmas and New Year around the corner. Hotels, restaurants, and tourism hot-spots are looking forward to put the last two dismal years behind them for good and with good reason.
For two years, the beaches in Goa were deserted due to the COVID pandemic. After 2019, this will be the first Christmas and New Year celebration in Goa without any restrictions.
Tourists from across India and around the world are heading back to this popular tourist destination for a vacation and that’s good news for the state’s coffers.
Christmas and New Year’s are still a few days away, but tourist footfalls this December have already surpassed pre-COVID levels. Dabolim Airport averaged a little over 28,600 daily passengers between December 15 and the 19. That’s higher than the average of 26,400 passengers per day over this period in 2019. The numbers have hotels, resorts, and guesthouses feeling chipper.
But there is a difference this year. Instead of the usual Russian and European tourists, most of the tourists this year are domestic. Cleartrip, for instance, says nearly 95 percent of
