However, the state’s international tourism, particularly from the UK and Russia, has yet to fully recover India’s bilateral issues with the UK and the Russia-Ukraine war have had a major impact on international tourist arrivals.

To counter this, Goa is diversifying its tourism strategy. It’s looking at new international markets and promoting cruise tourism, an untapped sector promising substantial revenue. 

“Cruise tourism was never there on the tourist map earlier. Every ship that comes in brings about 3,000 individuals, most of whom are big spenders. We are expecting 42 ships to come in this year. In the long run, it will give us more fully independent travellers or FITs and that will help give the state additional tourism revenue,” he added.

Another strategy is the proposal for a ‘digital nomad’ visa for those who want to come to the country and stay for a short period of time. Digital nomads are tech freelancers who don’t necessarily work from any particular place. The state is hoping the Centre will speed up work on this visa category soon.

“Around 50 countries around the world have realised the potential of digital nomad tourists and in their ability to spend and live in their country on a short term basis. We need to ensure that the center and the state work together on policies like these. Goa can be the ideal model for the country to showcase. This can contribute so much to the local tourism economy for Goa and we are determined to make tech tourism a reality soon. But at present, the center is yet to sort out a clear policy on how to give out these digital nomad visas,” he said.

Goa has a population of about 1.5 million people. “With Dabolim and Manohar International Airport (MOPA) airports both in operation, we have to now work on improving our room capacity or inventory as we are short. Most organised hotels are running at 80% or upwards capacity. We have about 6000 accommodations including hotels and 85,000 rooms across the states,” said Khaunte.

Tourism has a major share in Goa’s economy, contributing 16.43% to its GDP and supporting 35% of jobs, direct or indirect. The state is also looking at ensuring that online tour operators like Makemytrip and others only take listings of hotels and properties that are already registered with the tourism department. 

“We were getting a lot of complaints that after booking properties on OTA platforms, when people arrived in Goa, they found that these properties didn’t exist. Last year when we first began registering them, the number was just 3000 properties registered. This number has doubled in 1.5 years. This year, the number will go up to 10,000 or more. We need to capture the data of the revenues they earn as well,’ he said.

According to the official statistics, the overall number of tourist visits in India in 2022, at 1731.01 million, still lags behind the pre-pandemic level of 2321.98 million in 2019. 

Goa aims to bridge this gap by enhancing both its domestic appeal and international reach.