The introduction of Monsoon tourism in Goa was formally launched in the year 2009 and it has already begun to pay rich dividends with a steady stream of tourists pouring in the state of Goa with the various hotels at Goa witnessing over 55 percent occupancy in the introductory year of 2009 and enhancing the figures to an impressive 65 percent for the year 2010 thereby fuelling the cause of Goa tourism’s smart endeavors in promoting an innovative brand of tourism to attract tourists to Goa.
In the current year the arrival of tourists during the monsoons in Goa ha been very positive and the occupancy levels are already bordering on the 70 percent mark which is a good indicator for the rest of the monsoon season. The whole exercise of promoting Goa tourism packages for the monsoon season were done by Goa tourism on the strength of only Goa’s natural resources and the department of Goa tourism have reached out to the tourists across the country and to the rest of the world by the catchy slogan that if one wished “ to see Goa at its best then the Monsoon season in Goa was the best time to do so”. As such no additional features or infrastructural changes have been added to the Monsoon package endeavors which makes the campaign quite commendable.
However to compensate for the additional absence of facilities. the Hotels at Goa are making efforts to compensate for the same by offering attractive packages to tourists to woo them to Goa and thereby making their holiday a cheaper holiday to Goa. Many hotels in Goa have also engaged in tie-ups with various airline companies to induce cheap flights to Goa in a bid to entice tourists to find enough motivation of making the trip to Goa.
The figures of tourists coming to Goa in the last few seasons is therefore a pointer to the success of the endeavors of Goa tourism. In the monsoon season of 2009 beginning from June till September, 3,59,536 tourists arrived in Goa. A number which shot up in the same period in 2010 to 3,76,450 tourists thereby registering a healthy growth of over 17,000 tourists compared to the previous year . Or a percentage increase of around 5 percent.
The foreigners coming to Goa during the monsoon season are also not charter tourists but free independent travellers(FITs). From the total tourists in the monsoon of 2009, a huge majority of 3,43,726 travelers were India’s own domestic tourists coming to Goa, while foreigners coming to the state in the period were accounted at 15,810. In the year 2010 the tourists arrival pattern was 3,58,745 domestic tourists and number of foreigners aggregated to around 17,705
Many tourists coming to Goa from various parts of India find Goa a great thrill to enjoy their monsoons as the rains in Goa are a unique experience adding to the charm of their holidays. Such rains are often not experienced by tourists in any other part of India and therefore the whole experience is a very refreshing one for many tourists in Goa with many of them preferring to get drenched in the frolic of Goa’s rains thereby immersing themselves ion the fun of the monsoons in Goa.
Some other tourists are awestruck by the sense of greenery prevailing in Goa and the lush green arms and field sin Goa have been their personal memories of Goa to carry back home with promises of coming back again to savour the Goa experience once more. Some other tourists also move in the interior villages of Goa to get a feel of the real Goa so that they can enjoy Goa’s beauty to the maximum.
Encouraged by the stupendous success of the monsoon campaign of Goa tourism packages, the department of Tourism in Goa conducted a major campaign lasting 17 days from 14 June to 30 June 2011 in regional newspapers in the country inviting tourists to experience the monsoon in Goa. As a result, the response was forthcoming and domestic tourists and international visitors were continuously arriving in the state to spend their monsoon holiday in Goa.
The campaign also brought in new demands form the department of tourism in Goa to handle the huge response thereby forcing them to employ additional staff to respond to various calls made by the prospective tourists seeking more information.Goa tourism's website has also recorded a huge number of hits following the campaign launch.
The department for tourism is also toying with the idea of ensuring that tourists coming to Goa are treated well by Goans and on these lines they have mooted the thought of launching a campaign to create awareness among Goans to be more friendlier to tourists coming to the state and is planning its campaign on the lines of “Atithi Devo bhava”, which would be streamed on local news channels and radio and would feature Goan stage artistes. An educational campaign for tourists of an advisory nature is also expected to be launched to benefit tourists about the Dos and Don'ts while on a holiday to the land of the sea sun and sand which is Goa indeed.
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