00:00So, welcome and thank you all of you for joining us today.
00:03Now, Goa, India's idyllic coastal state, is witnessing a remarkable surge in international
00:08tourism with a record influx of visitors in recent months.
00:12Now, this uptick comes at a time when China's state-backed propaganda has painted a different
00:18narrative, one that suggests declining interest in the region.
00:22But recent data is painting a very different picture, one that challenges these claims
00:26and highlights the resilience and appeal of Goa's tourism industry.
00:30Now, to discuss the significance of these numbers and the broader implications for India's
00:34tourism and how this influx might affect local communities, we are being joined today by
00:40Mr. Savio Rodriguez, Editor-in-Chief, Goa Chronicle, author, Modi Stole My Mask, and
00:46political advisor.
00:47Welcome, sir.
00:48Savio Rodriguez, Editor-in-Chief, Goa Chronicle, author, Modi Stole My Mask, and political advisor.
00:49Welcome, sir.
00:50Savio Rodriguez, Editor-in-Chief, Goa Chronicle, author, Modi Stole My Mask, and political advisor.
00:52It's a pleasure to be on your show.
00:53Much humbled.
00:55So, we'll straight off dive into today's topic.
00:58Now, what do you think, how is this season's tourism in Goa compared to previous years?
01:04Divya, to be absolutely brutally honest, having been somebody who travels the length and breadth
01:11of Goa, and I do it as a matter of being a person who enjoys the entertainment, the food,
01:18and the live culture that you see in Goa, I make it a point to visit as many places
01:24that I can.
01:25And I can tell you from whatever I've seen, contrary to this social media campaign that
01:29has been, unfortunately, been brought about to target Goa, I think Goa tourism and the
01:37kind of feedback we've seen over the last couple of months, with the impact of the fact
01:43that there was the festive season, there was the exposition of Francis Xavier, there was
01:51the general upheat about the EDM festivals, the Brian Adams show happening in Goa, various
02:01things contributed to the fact that there was a surge in tourism that has happened.
02:07While there has not been the official figures that have come out to compute the year-on-year
02:12statistics for 2024, the limited data that has come out from 2024, as you can see in
02:18the last month, which was an article carried on some of the medias, shows that there has
02:24been a marked improvement as far as tourist arrivals are concerned, as well as the revenue
02:30generated, and more importantly, the GST that tourism has contributed to the Indian exchequer.
02:39So a lot of people have this misnomer, Divya, that they feel that the foreign tourism, which
02:46has seen a slight decline, is the definition of what tourism in Goa is supposed to be.
02:51But that has never been the definition of Goa tourism for the last five years or so,
02:57because there has been a concentrated effort by the government to concentrate not only
03:02on the foreign tourists, but also the Indian tourists as well.
03:06Because we realize with the COVID crisis, when we were unfortunately in the world, unfortunately
03:12was hit by the COVID crisis, there was an absolute slump in tourism, and travel advisories
03:19were issued by foreign countries, and people were not able to travel.
03:23So even during the Russia-Ukraine war, there were travel advisories that were issued, and
03:28people were not willing to travel to Goa because of the Russia-Ukraine war.
03:33So in order to be dependent on just foreign tourists, the Goa government very strategically
03:40decided to focus a lot on Indian tourists.
03:45So where Indian tourists was about 3 million, and then you had foreign tourists that was
03:50about 4-5 million, now it's gone reverse.
03:54You've got the Indian tourists at about 8 million, and the foreign tourists at about
03:583 million.
03:59To us and to the tourism person doing business, at the end of the day, the tourist is a tourist.
04:07He's going to come and spend the same kind of money, whether that money is foreign currency
04:11or whether that money is Indian rupees.
04:14He is interested in ensuring that his business is run successful.
04:18So I think there's this lot of misinformation that has been going around, focusing on the
04:24foreign tourists, saying that it's dropped and many of the foreign tourists are going
04:28to Thailand and Vietnam.
04:31And if they are choosing to go to Thailand and Vietnam, so be it.
04:35But the tourism numbers in Goa have not dropped.
04:37The tourism numbers in Goa are actually increasing, and they are increasing because of the domestic
04:43tourists.
04:44Now, if you are going to tell me or many of these people commenting on social media are
04:49going to tell me that the Indian tourist is not as wealthy or monetarily capable as the
04:56foreign tourists, then I'm going to laugh at your face, because I believe the Indian
05:01tourist spends much more than the foreign tourists as far as Goa is concerned.
05:06And that's the reality.
05:07And strategically, it's definitely a smarter move to make when you do have such a, you
05:13know, huge population to tap within the country, then why not tap on that?
05:17So do you think that the narrative about declining tourism in Goa was an intentional attempt
05:23to damage the reputation?
05:25Yes, I do believe.
05:27And coming from a journalistic background and an investigation background as well, we
05:33have been doing ever since the first tweet we mapped of the negative comments that was
05:38coming on social media and negative articles that some media were trying to push to create
05:45a narrative.
05:46We started mapping out who are the probable reasons or who are the probable people that
05:51are behind this, and we've kept a tap on it.
05:54Even the Goa government per se is looking at it very minutely.
05:58What is certain is two things.
06:00One, a Sri Lankan-based casino company hired an Indian-based PR agency just to focus on
06:09damaging the reputation of Goa tourism so that a large number of the tourist inflow
06:15coming in because of the casinos in Goa could have moved to Sri Lanka, which has set up
06:22a mixed-use sort of project that caters to casino environment in Sri Lanka at this point
06:29of time.
06:30The second aspect of it is that many of them started to focus on countries like Thailand,
06:36Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and they started comparing Goa with all of these countries.
06:41I think they need to understand the difference between countries and states.
06:45Goa is a state, right?
06:47We are talking about India tourism can compare with Thailand tourism.
06:51And the experiences are very different, the people are different, all of it is definitely
06:56different from each other.
06:58Absolutely, because Goa tourism should compare with Pattaya tourism for that matter, or Krabi,
07:04which are small states or cities within Thailand itself.
07:09So if you want to compare apples to apples, then you have a comparison.
07:12If you want to compare apples to oranges, then you are really not comparing the right thing.
07:17So I think it has been deliberate.
07:20What we also believe is that there are certain quarters of people in the international markets,
07:25as you rightly said, China, because China does have an influence in Sri Lanka.
07:31China does have an influence in Thailand.
07:33China does have an influence in Vietnam.
07:36And these were the names coming out as alternatives to opting for Goa.
07:41So do I believe China has an intent on hitting Goa as far as tourism is concerned?
07:46I absolutely believe that.
07:48It is important for the Indian government and the Goa government to investigate the
07:54PR companies that were given the mandate to deliberately target the Goa state and Goa tourism.
08:04So let me ask you, Divya, if tourism has been growing from a domestic level, and they have
08:10seen a rise from 7 million to 8 million, and this year, I believe we should touch about
08:149 or to 9.2 million.
08:18If the tourism is rising, it's indicating something.
08:21You know, why should I say it for myself?
08:23The numbers itself will speak for it when the official data comes out.
08:27The point is, having traveled around the country, I catch a flight back every weekend to come
08:33back to Goa in order to see, you know, to be with my family, right?
08:39The flights are always full.
08:41I don't remember sitting in a flight that was empty into Goa.
08:45So I'm being realistic as far as the measures are concerned by a layman.
08:50Keep aside that I work with the government, keep aside that I'm an analyst and an investigator.
08:55The fact is, I can see this in front of my eyes, right?
08:58Last month I was there, even it was difficult to get bookings in the hotels also because
09:02majority of them were going completely booked.
09:05Precisely.
09:07And please understand, at any tourism destination that you are, you are always going to have
09:16different or different kinds of people coming in.
09:19You know, we get a lot of comments on Goa that, you know, Goa is not welcoming towards
09:23the Indian tourists.
09:24We welcome foreign tourists.
09:26That's not true.
09:27Because if we were looking at only foreign tourists, why would there be such a focused
09:32approach towards the Indian tourists?
09:34What the locals are getting upset about, Divya, is that, you see, with Goa comes the culture
09:40of Goa.
09:41And the culture of Goa is something that is more soft, more patient, more accommodating.
09:48You know, it's about music.
09:50It's about food.
09:51It's about a general camaraderie.
09:53Also, tell me, now Goa has over the years managed to maintain its appeal even as a premier
09:59tourist destination.
10:01So despite all the external criticism that happens, so how do you think that has happened?
10:09It's very simple.
10:11There are certain places in Goa, for example, when we look at the real estate aspects, okay.
10:17Now, if you look at a real estate villa in a place like, like very close to Panjim, which
10:23is, which is centralized capital city, there are villas selling at 50 crores, a five bedroom
10:29villa, a six bedroom villa.
10:31Now, why would somebody invest 50 crores in that?
10:35You're talking and competing as high as you would in, say, Gurgaon or certain parts of
10:41Bombay where you would spend that kind of money for a villa.
10:44So there is affluence.
10:46And tourism is not just in, you know, once upon a time, it just used to be the Bala,
10:52the Baga, Kalingoot space.
10:54Now it's just spread over from north to south.
10:58Asagaon has become big.
11:00And you just see, as you were talking about the villas, you see beautiful villas there,
11:04they have pools.
11:05So it's just definitely catering to the premium tourists that we are talking about.
11:10I'll give you a classic example, okay.
11:12So let's say you would, since you mentioned Asagaon, you might have a project in Asagaon
11:16where you can buy a villa for about seven to eight crores, okay.
11:20Seven to eight crores with a swimming pool, five bedroom villa, beaches nearby.
11:27You can give it out to Airbnb and earn your money.
11:30So people are looking at various different options.
11:32I have a friend who's purchased a villa in Kandolim, which belonged to a movie star,
11:39you know, celebrity.
11:41He comes there maybe once in two months for a week.
11:46But the rest of the time is given out on Airbnb.
11:49So everybody is seeing tourism.
11:51If it's Airbnb, it's definitely tourism, leisure or business for that matter, right.
11:56So Goa has become an attractive destination from an investor point of view as well.
12:02And he's looking at it as having a home that he can get money out of.
12:06And that is what most of those guys from outside of Goa are investing into villas for or apartments.
12:13Another unique concept, Divya, that's picking up in Goa right now from a tourism perspective,
12:18because the evolved traveler doesn't want to go and stay in a hotel.
12:22The evolved traveler wants to go and stay in an independent villa, or more importantly,
12:26in a homestay.
12:27You know, so he chooses a luxury Portuguese villa, or an old traditional Indian Goan villa.
12:35And he opts to pay top dollar, which would be higher than what he's paying in a five
12:39star hotel as well, to stay and have that experience.
12:43Absolutely.
12:44So, thank you so much, Savio, for joining us today and for your insights.
12:51Now, it is very clear that Goa's tourism is definitely thriving, no matter whatever external
12:57narratives are being spun around it.
13:00And thank you so much for tuning in.
13:01We'll keep you updated on this story.
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