Goa warned: Good times are over
India’s good-time state of Goa has been warned that it must change its ways to remain competitive.
Francisco de Braganca, president of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa, said the "golden age of tourism" in Goa was over and the destination needed to take a new direction.
In the sixties, Goa was best know as a hippie destination for Europe’s flower children, and while a few have clung on to that lifestyle, Russian tourists have arrived in numbers and are now Goa’s biggest market.
"Goa’s good times are over," said de Braganca, speaking at the launch of the Goa International Travel Market.
"We must move on from hippies in the sixties, charter tourism in the nineties and reduce our dependency on single markets," he said.
It was time, de Braganca said, to diversify and embrace new products such as adventure and sports tourism, medical tourism, wildlife and eco tourism.
"We must not always look to the West for our business. We need to improve our market presence in other parts of the world," he said.
Ian Jarrett
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