Goa: holiday paradise? Gourmet destination? The success story of Indian tourism?
Ah yes. Perhaps it is time to recalibrate some of the conclusions we came to about the hotel/restaurant scene in Goa over the last few years. The first of these is that familiar view that Goa is now the restaurant capital of India. The second is the idea that the old notion of Goa as a seasonal tourism destination is dead. It now gets tourists all around the year.
I have just come back from Goa, from my second trip there in the space of a few months. And I think that perhaps we were too hasty in jumping to those conclusions.
Let’s start with the good news, however. The best thing to happen in Goa in a long time is the opening of the new airport in North Goa, run by GMR who do such a good job of managing Delhi airport. The old airport was too small to handle Goa’s needs. And when the Airports Authority built a new terminal building there some years ago it was so hideous and badly designed that you wondered who had got rich on the project.
The roads (at least the ones connecting the major hubs) are also better than they used to be. And with the old and the new airports both still in operation you can choose your flight so that it lands near the part of Goa you want to visit.
Now, for the misconceptions. It seems probable, in retrospect, that we came to those happy conclusions about Goa at an atypical time. During the Pandemic it was hard for Indians to travel abroad so Goa became the there-is-no-alternative destination for many of us. This led to packed restaurants and hotels that were full all year round.
Now that life has returned to normal, that situation no longer endures. Frankly, you would have to really love Goa (as I do) or be very ill-informed to pay Goa prices. It is one of the most expensive short to medium haul destinations Indian tourists can go to.
Goa wants upmarket tourists but a business class return ticket between Goa and Delhi in January (post New Year) will cost anywhere between ₹85 thousand to one lakh for a distance that is only a little more than the flight to Mumbai. In contrast, on around the same dates, it costs between ₹60 to 70 thousand to fly to Bangkok, a journey that is much longer.
Hotels abroad are cheaper as well. A basic five star hotel like a JW Marriott or a Hyatt is between two-thirds to half the price in, say, Bangkok compared to Goa rates. Nor are the newer Goa hotels necessarily beach properties. Many of them look like they could have been built in Gurgaon, Noida or Andheri. And now that you don’t need a visa to go to many Far Eastern countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam etc. Indian tourists have an attractive alternative.
So, unless you love Goa, there is no real reason (in economic terms) to go there.
I don’t know if that was the reason but this time, I found that if you took away weddings and conferences (which sustain much of the Goa hospitality industry) Goa hotels no longer had the throngs of tourists you normally found in December.
International travellers are also less enamoured of Goa than they used to be; I did not see too many foreign tourists. All of Asia has now opened up at cheaper rates so foreign tourists also have better options.
This was all during the season. But during the summer, it’s worse: many Goa hotels have lots of empty rooms and most restaurants are rarely full on weekdays. So I think we can dispense with the idea of Goa as a year-round destination. It is back to seasonal traffic.
As for the food, I think it is fair to say that it is much harder to get a good Goan meal in Goa now then it was say, a decade ago. The current influx of tourists has virtually no interest in Goan food or culture. If you go to say, Malaysia or Thailand, you are conscious of being in a foreign country with its own language, traditions and cuisine. But many of the tourists who came to Goa now treat it as just another part of India. They have no interest in all the things that used to make Goa different or special.
The tourism industry has realised this. A significant proportion of the staff at Goa’s hotels consists of non-Goans. Many of (if not most) of the restaurants that have opened in the last decade are either owned by or staffed by non-Goans.
In terms of the hospitality culture there is nothing particularly Goan about Goa any longer. I doubt very much if the brigades of chefs and cooks at hotels include many Goans. Certainly, the Goan food at some hotels is now beyond disgusting.
Which, in a sense, may be Goa’s problem in the years going ahead. When the Taj group launched Goa as a destination in the 1970s, it was careful about emphasising all the things that made Goa different and special. Now it is just another Indian destination distinguished only by a few beaches and a powerful taxi mafia.
That may be fine in some ways. When the Russians who had once flocked to Goa stopped coming (not such a bad thing, frankly) Goa was quick to fill the gap with Punjabis and other North Indians. They came for the bars and the butter chicken (you get a lot of that in Goa: I kid you not) and had a good time.
But as that regional demographic becomes more international, will these people still keep coming to Goa? Once you take away what it is that makes Goa special, you judge it like any other destination.
And compared to most of the Far East, Goa is not only more expensive, it isn’t special enough to evoke a longing among visitors.
Which is a shame. Because I do love Goa.
And I would love to see it attract visitors for all the old reasons that made Goa so different for so many years.
Taste With Vir: Was the boom in Goa too good to last and is a bust on its way?
7
0
12.12.2023
Goa: holiday paradise? Gourmet destination? The success story of Indian tourism?
Ah yes. Perhaps it is time to recalibrate some of the conclusions we came to about the hotel/restaurant scene in Goa over the last few years. The first of these is that familiar view that Goa is now the restaurant capital of India. The second is the idea that the old notion of Goa as a seasonal tourism destination is dead. It now gets tourists all around the year.
I have just come back from Goa, from my second trip there in the space of a few months. And I think that perhaps we were too hasty in jumping to those conclusions.
Let’s start with the good news, however. The best thing to happen in Goa in a long time is the opening of the new airport in North Goa, run by GMR who do such a good job of managing Delhi airport. The old airport was too small to handle Goa’s needs. And when the Airports Authority built a new terminal building there some years ago it was so hideous and badly designed that you wondered who had got rich on the project.
The roads (at least the ones connecting the major hubs) are also better than they used to be. And with the old and the new airports both still in operation you can choose your flight so that it lands near the part of Goa you want to visit.
Now, for the misconceptions. It seems probable, in retrospect, that we came to those happy conclusions about Goa at an atypical........
© hindustantimes
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Rami G Khouri
Mort Laitner
Donald Low
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Nikkei Editorial
Michael Kwet
