Expects more than 1.5 CR footfalls for the year.
In 2019, Goa experienced a tourist footfall of 8.1 Mn in the state and after COVID, and has recovered fast experiencing 2.9 Mn tourist footfalls till March 2022. Every hotel in the state is said to have been experiencing more than 75% occupancy with MOPA airport coming into the picture.
To add more details, Pravinkumar Faldessai, Manager Marketing at Goa Tourism Development Corporation, mentioned during the Global Tourism Investor’s Summit Roadshow in Mumbai, that projects have been finalized on PPP mode, where approximately 30 odd projects have been executed till date.
“With two operational airports in the state, Dabolim Airport and MOPA airport, MOPA itself has the potential to double our footfalls”, Faldessai added. According to him, Goa is expecting more than 1.5 cr footfalls in the coming year, predicting to experience more than whatever achieved in the past. The numbers are coming as the capacity that MOPA airport is bringing, and the kind of linkages that it has formed with various international as well as domestic destinations is phenomenal.
Drawing light on the number of registered hotels in the State, he added that it is 4000 and Goa is delivering one of the highest in ARR in the country, matching with Mumbai. The average room rent is almost similar to what Mumbai is experiencing with good occupancy, good ARR, and with MOPA in picture, a lot of investment opportunities are in the pipeline for all the hoteliers out here.
The current average length of stay for domestic tourists is 4 days and for international tourists, it is 9 days. Also, the Goa Tourism Master plan has been finalized in 2020 and with accordance with this master plan, the Goa Tourism Board is constituted which is a 50% participation from the private sector and 50% participation from the government.
Faldessai added, “The Goa Tourism Board is being checked by the Honourable Chief Minister as well and coached by Honourable Tourism Minister. And we have private representatives including CII, WTTC, TTAG which is one of the apex hotel associations in the State, and Goa Chamber of Commerce along with various subject matter experts ranging from wildlife, eco heritage, culture, mines, etc.”
“Goa is known for its party and night life, but as per the Goa Tourism Master Plan, it is targeting to become a responsible tourism destination or a responsible tourism capital of the country.”
Recognizing the fact that shacks constitute a part of Goa’s heritage, and that Goa has more than 48 beaches, Goa considers, that for beaches, it needs to have a lot of regulations so that these can be offered in a much better fashion to the tourists. So Faldessai highlighted policies such as Beach Shack Policy 2023, and also water sports being one of the very popular activities, Goa is the first state in the country to have its own tourism act.
Goa is in line with an Integrated Beach Management Policy with regards to the beach, be it shacks, beach, or other activities. Besides, the State is coming up with a tourist helpline for not just grievances but any kind of query that the tourists will have. Goa is also in line in terms of offering a land bank for the development of projects in private investment mode. “Besides the relaxation of registration rules is also happening with eased steps to register with the Department of Tourism. In terms of hotels, it used to have nine documents, now it is reduced to three, and in terms of renewal, it is an automatic renewal process”, Faldessai added.
There are seven areas that Goa is currently focusing on. One is eco and nature-based activities; Goan waters, not just beaches but backwaters, lakes; heritage and culture; adventure, MICE tourism, leisure & entertainment, wellness & medical tourism. The state is coming up with two convention centres, one state-of-art convention centre with more than 3000 pax capacity and then second is another 1300 pax capacity. One of these tenders is already live, Goa is looking for operations and maintenance partners on a long-term basis.
Few of the investment ideas in terms of leisure and entertainment include the film city or the permanent venues for conducting various events. Inviting investments, Faldessai mentioned “We are looking for investments in terms all-integrated wellness products, be it a Wellness resort or be it any kind of alternate therapies or alternate medicine venues.”
Goa government is also developing a Skill Development Academy in Goa to satisfy the need of skilled workforce in tourism, be it drivers, skilled tourism guides or anyone who supports tourism. Goa is looking for a partner to run the academy in a professional manner and also products that not only appeals to the young and adult crowd but also the children and art enthusiasts.
“There are a lot of EPC-related project opportunities available. We also recognize the need for single window clearance. Right now there isn’t any, but Goa aspires to have a single window system for clearing all the NOCs or permissions to the investment projects and the state is aggressively working on it”, Faldessai mentioned.
