PANAJI
The Corona pandemic has hit the State tourism industry in a big way with domestic tourist arrivals reducing to 50 per cent compared to 2019.
This was informed by Union Tourism Minister Kishan Reddy in the Lok Sabha in a written reply. During the year 2018, a total of 70,81,559 domestic tourists visited Goa. In 2019 the number saw an increase and this year 71,27,287 tourists visited Goa. However, after the danger of coronavirus increased in the State in March 2020, the numbers of tourists began to dip. This was furthered by the announcements of lockdowns across the country including Goa. So, after five months when the lockdown norms were relaxed, the State government opened the tourism. but this year, only 35, 58, 715 tourists visited Goa, Reddy informed.
Since the corona crisis continued, international tourists did not visit Goa, but in 2020, when the first wave decreased, the State government decided to open the tourism by relaxing the SOPs. It was after this that the domestic tourists began flocking to the State. During the corona crisis in 2020, more than 50 lakh tourists had visited Goa, claimed Deputy Chief Minister Babu Ajgaonkar. However, the Union Minister’s reply reveals that only 32.57 lakh tourists had visited Goa during that period.
Meanwhile, tourism which is next in line to mining, when income generation is concerned, mining was considered as the backbone of the economy in Goa. But after the ban on mining, the economy of Goa had collapsed. Adding to this, Corona was also one of the reasons for reduced tourist footfalls in Goa and the favourite destination became less attractive or somehow lost its charm.
This has resulted in losses to businesses that were dependent on tourism. The State government has since then tried to adopt various measures to bring the tourism industry back to normal.
