Jan van Djik looks weather beaten. It looks as if he spent a good part of his 67 years strolling on Calangute beach. The Dutchman has been following a 20-year ritual of visiting Goa twice a year. Except that over the last few years, he has been spending less and less time there. “Doing a lot of travel in other parts, especially in the North… Benares.”
How the Cookie Crumbled
Visa is a pain point too. In the last few years, stricter visa regulations have also had unintended consequences for Goa tourism. A Swedish tour operator for Goa says, on conditions of anonymity, that it takes almost two months to get a visa for someone from Sweden to come to Goa, whereas in Phuket (Indonesia), Vietnam and Malaysia, one gets visa on arrival. “It is not surprising that almost 26 charter planes from Scandinavian countries are coming to Phuket every week. Earlier, they used to come to Goa,” she says. Along with still-expensive hotels, even after tariffs were cut once the slowdown set in, visa expenses make holidays in Goa costlier by 600 euros or 500 pounds.
(This story appears in the 19 March, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
Since this article was written, things are gone further downhill here, the mysterious death of fr. bismarque (an environmental activist, the familiar police comment of \'it was an accident and not murder\'), the land grab of tiracol for a freaking golf course!!!!! by the scum of the earth Leading Hotels and the subsequent tax breaks they got, the land grap of Mopa airport, the land grab of Chimbel IT Park (like the much vaunted dona paula IT park, the land for this new it park too will disappear into the maw of \'developers\'), the incrdeible greed of the localites (hire a taxi to see what i mean!). My earnest request to anyone reading this, please STOP visiting Goa, go to Phuket, Thailand, much cleaner beaches and much friendlier people and at the same budget too. Spread the message Goa as a tourist destination is done.
on Dec 5, 2015Since this article was written things have only gone downhill in Goa. There have been too many unexplained deaths amongst the tourists over the years and the Scarlett Keeling one isn\'t an isolated case. These cases are never fully investigated or solved. The system is created were the grieving relatives will find it impossible to go forward legally to get justice for their lost loved ones. I personally know this as my nephew Felix Dahl was killed at 28th of January in Patnem Goa.
on Aug 14, 2015Goa is a sad place now
on Sep 7, 2013Goa simply cannot compete. The beaches are dirty, the people are way too greedy, immigration way too slow and the police way to corrupt. I have travelled the world many many times over and visited Goa many times over. Goa does not compare with Bali, Thailand or 100 other places. The hippies, raves and foreign tourists have found greener pastures. The Indians soon too will travel overseas. Goa is dead.
on Oct 24, 2011This article repeats a common misconception about the relative merits of 'Charter' and '5 star' tourists: a charter package to Goa may only cost £300 - £500 for two weeks (but more likely twice that) but the charter tourist then spends many more hundreds of pounds for local meals, taxis and shopping which directly benefit local people. <br /> On the other hand 5-star tourist spend some thousands of pounds which are paid abroad, to multinational companies, this covers most if not all of their costs and none of it reaches local people.<br />
on Mar 8, 2010Some factual errors. Phuket is not in Indonesia. According to Indian Embassy in Sweden, swedish nationals get visas within eight working days. How can a visa fees make a trip costlier by 600EUR/500GBP when the cost for Tourist visa for Swedish nationals is approx 68EUR/63GBP. Finally number of Charters from Sweden to Goa was 26 per week ? That is more than 3 flights per day.
on Mar 11, 2010The success of toursim has lulled many a goa govt - who spend more time fighting to stay in power -into thinking the party would never end. And while there is time, the govt should look for non-polluting industries like IT, BPos etc to sustain jobs and growth. <br /> However, while the govt may be rudderless, Goa is a victim of the image its creates in many Indians' minds...go only for fun and frolic. Now, time for the electorate to show lousy govts the door. here's where the 33 percent reservation for women may actually come to the rescue of the the state of Goa.
on Mar 13, 2010