Who doesn’t love Goa! The sun, sand, food, nightlife – they all make Goa a must-visit destination for domestic as well as international tourists. However, according to a state minister, Goa should reinvent itself to become attractive to only foreign tourists and discourage low-budget Indian visitors. “I (had) said Goa should become so expensive for the tourists that they should say ‘I should not come to Goa. It is not worth going to Goa’. Which tourist – Indian tourist,” Vijai Sardesai, town and country planning minister, said at a press conference recently. 

Goa’s beaches attract more than six million visitors annually while the foreign footfall is around half a million. “It should also be a place which gives high-end facilities and gets high-end tourism, which benefits the sons of the soil,” Sardesai added, responding to a question on the spike in tourists during New Year’s.

Goa is a destination which can be covered in a lot of ways – from budget friendly to luxury. According to the minister, Goa should compete with other South East Asian countries to attract foreign tourists. “It is not only about quantity, but also about quality of tourists coming to Goa,” he said.