Every year the number of tourists visiting Goa-both foreign and domestic-keeps increasing. The current 2011-12 season, which is nearing its end, has been no exception going by the feedback of the stakeholders. Everybody also feels things can get a little better provided some much-needed infrastructure is put into place. The tourism season was briefly adversely affected because of the restrictions during the elections. Everybody is looking at the coming panchayat elections with trepidation because the restrictions will come at the height of the April-May holiday season.

Director of tourism Swapnil Naik said more than 27 lakh tourists visited Goa during the last one year, which is "marginally" more than the previous year. "Last year, there was a major increase in the number of tourists," he said. There was a major increase in tourist flow during the last monsoon because of a number of long weekends. The monsoon was earlier considered as the off-season, but that has been changing and the figures have now increased substantially." "Till March-end this year, there had been 849 charter flights and the figure is expected to cross the 900 mark by the end of the season," Naik said.

Although the numbers have been rising, many feel there has been a qualitative decline. John Rodrigues has been a cruise boat operator for around two decades. Apart from the dolphin spotting, crocodile watching boat trips, he also operates houseboats along the Siolim-Colvale river which take guests on backwater cruises. "Overall, the season has been good. But the spending power of the tourists is slowly eroding. We are not attracting the same quality of tourists that we would previously attract," he said.

Why is that? "Somebody who has come 10 years ago, now finds that the beach has become dirtier," says Rodrigues. That visitor has other international options and he/she soon discourages his/her friends from coming to Goa, creating a negative ripple effect. But he added, "Maybe in the years ahead the quality of the tourists will increase with more infrastructure."

The tourism industry in Goa has managed to work around this problem by targeting new markets abroad, to compensate for the fall in visitors from the older markets like the UK as per a TOI report.

Rodrigues also feels that eco-tourism has not been adequately tapped. "People are looking at going back to nature and more people should come out in Goa and provide these activities, rather than only looking at beach tourism," he said.

Keeping this in mind, the Parrikar government has formulated two new schemes to encourage eco-tourism and to develop heritage homes for tourists. These schemes are in the form of subsidies and low-interest loans, said Naik, adding that new jetties are also being constructed in hinterland areas so that the waterways can be used to ferry tourists to interior Goa which abounds in natural beauty.

Calangute beach, of course, continues to be a magnet for thousands of tourists every day, most of them domestic. The beach is packed practically throughout the year and almost all the shacks and other tourism-related businesses do well during the season. Many here talk of the problem of plenty: Too many tourists, too many shacks, too many resorts, too many restaurants and bars, all offering the same kind of services. But despite this and in spite of the garbage and filth strewn all over, the tourists continue to pour in. Says Nash, owner of a Calangute beach shack, "The season has been great. I have absolutely no complaints."

The beaches elsewhere, particularly in Salcete, do not attract huge crowds, but still nobody is complaining. A typical budget hotel with a swimming pool in Fatrade, Varca, had an occupancy of 75% this season, said manager of a hotel John Coutinho. "The season has been good. We get a mixed clientele of domestic and foreign tourists," he said.

The plus point for the Salcete beach belt is the absence of huge crowds on the beaches, unlike in Calangute. Because of this, the area attracts the more up-market domestic traveller. It's only in Palolem in South Goa that the crowds come even close to those in Calangute because of the wide approach road to the beach and the easy availability of parking space.

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