Goa Holidays

Holidays in Goa have been a wanton desire of tourists all over the world. Goa with its natural beauty, silvery beaches, green landscapes, thickly forested hinterlands, gurgling springs, gothic architectural marvels of churches and vintage temples along with warm hearted people has long been seen as the perfect abode to get away from the maddening world.

In the sixties and the famed 70's the hippies dominated the Goan holiday scene with their exuberance. Beach visits were often shunned by parents for their children within Goa as the beaches had turned into a nudist paradise. I remember on our farewell picnics in my last year at school when we had chosen the Baga beach as our picnic destination, our teachers were finding it hard t o blind us(over 40 students) from the temptation of glancing at brazen nudism much to their helplessness.

Over the years, tourists have been more responsible and nudism in Goa has thankfully faded away. Replaced by it have been tourists from allover the world who have discovered Goa to be their favourite destination. Post the hippies, the first to mingle in the holidaying in Goa were the British, who are till date among the highest to turn our at Goa. However they seem to be discouraged to come to Goa nowadays mostly due to the advent of the Russians who they claim are too loud. The Russians in the meanwhile have almost taken a great and crazy fancy for Goa. Not only do their nationals want to holiday in Goa but are also willing to buy land and settle here.Settling in Goa and buying land for foreigners is however disallowed as per the Indian government FEMA regulations.

Apart from the Russians and the Englishmen, tourists from Israel are a big draw in Goa nowadays and bring with them their cultural richness and mingle among the Goan holiday crowd. Besides these three strong tourist groups, there are pockets of tourists from Finland, Sweden, Germany and the Scandinavian countries. Tourists from Asia are rare and few. Part of the reason could be that Asia as a whole is so beautiful that tourists may prefer to holiday in their own country or find the choice too wide and large to choose from.

Add to the list the domestic Indian tourist and Goa has a handful on its plate. From the months of September to April and Middle of May Goan tourism is in full flow. However the months of November to Middle of February seem to command the highest tourist flow in Goa and therefore the rates at all tourist related places and tourist items in Goa is the highest.

Despite various setbacks this year, tourism in Goa has not been adversely hit as it was expected to and therefore one wishes that Goa tourism blooms continuously despite all the odds that the world may be facing. After all Goa is the place to unwind and remains the unstoppable destination.

Xittuk Goencar