Goa: Vijai Sardesai, Goa’s Minister for agriculture and town and country planning has stated Goa needs to reorient its tourism Policy that concentrates on high-end-foreign tourist rather than cheap domestic tourists.
Goa is famously known for its beaches which not only attracts Indian domestic tourists but is also a favorite and affordable tourist destination for the international visitors.
The state’s revenue heavily depends heavily on these tourists which the Government plans to reorient in order to draw more international visitors and put an end to domestic tourists who do not shell out money as the rich international tourists.
The Minister said the state government should discourage domestic tourists who arrive in buses and do not contribute to the state’s economy and work on focusing on attracting quality tourists.
“Goa should become so expensive that tourists should say that it is not worth coming to Goa. Which tourists … the Indian tourists. We must have high-end facilities and get high-end tourism, which benefits the sons of the soil,” Sardesai said.
“Why do we need these common tourists? It is not only about quantity, but also about quality of tourists coming to Goa. They say that today 64 lakh tourists come and we will take it to 1 crore. You don’t need them. Reduce the numbers and instead bring the high spenders in,” Sardesai added.
Well, Goa’s tourist’s statistics show local Indian tourists constitute only 11% of the arrivals while International Tourists contribute up to four times more than the domestic tourists.
The statistics revealed International visitors spend around Rs, 87,000 on an average per person as compared to domestic visitors who spend Rs 31,500, IndiaTimes reported.