Goa beckons tourists for Christmas and New Year

With Christmas and New Year knocking on the doors and winter holidays in bag, people are looking forward to having a great time in Goa (Photo: Alexey Turenkov, Unsplash)

Christmas and New Year have emerged as an important vacation time for families across India as schools and colleges shut down, proving parents with the perfect excuse to set off with their children for holidays in destinations across the country and increasingly around the world.

For those, seeking to savour Christmas in its unfiltered form, two states stand out, Kerala and Goa, the latter has for long been a major attraction, not just for Indians but for tourists around the world as the compact state offers all that a vacation brings – plenty of lovely beaches, forests, sunny days and mild evenings.

With Christmas and New Year knocking on the doors and winter holidays in bag, people are looking forward to having a great time in the state. In 2020, people were forced to stay indoors due to the high number of Covid-19 patients in the country, but now with a drop in the number of active cases, the demand for tourism has boomed and for many people keen to avoid the hassles of international travel, Goa is the perfect getaway.

While travelling to Goa, with the year about to end, people have a multitude of different activities to choose from. Midnight mass is a popular Christmas tradition in the state on Christmas eve and makes it an appropriate activity for the tourists with December 24 arriving in a few days. As Goa hosts almost 400 churches, residents and tourists can easily attend a mass at one of the churches that is never too far away. Basilica of Bom Jesus is one of the oldest churches in the country and its companion the Saint Francis Church makes it the perfect destination for the eve.

Apart from places of worship and beaches being the main attraction in the state tourists are attracted towards the local market and the quaint shopping experience it has to offer.

“When it comes to Goa, travellers most preferred destinations have always been beaches and places of worship, which we believe will continue to be. An added attraction, this time, with the foreign tourists is the introduction of e-bikes which is very useful in visiting the hinterland places. Apart from this the local markets and the quaint shopping experience local markets have to offer are very attractive to the tourists,” Jyoti Mayal, president of the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) tells Media India Group.

Goa is also a paradise for foodies especially for the ones loving seafood. With the ongoing Christmas season restaurants all over the state serve seasonal delicacies such roast turkey, pork sorpotel, plum cakes, stuffed chicken, and a variety of grilled seafood.

With restrictions for Covid-19 being relieved for tourists this year the grounds of Vagator beach will be crawling with Electronic Dance Music (EDM) fans. With Sunburn music festival scheduled from December 28 to December 30, fans are looking forward to being a part of the magical musical experience. This year the authorities have allowed the people to attend who are only fully vaccinated keeping in mind the looming threat of Covid-19.

Adding to the appeal of this most popular western music festival in India, this year, 60 international artists and local artists will be entertaining the people on three stages. The promoters for the show have partnered with different clubs for the event. The event will also be live-streamed for those unable to be physically present.

With many festivals and activities to keep the tourists glued to Goa, tour operators say most tourists spend a fair number of days in the state. “On an average, the domestic tourist stays for five days and the foreign tourist stays for nine days approximately,” says Mayal of TAAI.

Leisure travel is most preferred by the tourist visiting Goa as the state offers dozens of opportunities and environments for them to blow off steam. “Leisure tourism is the most preferred. With no international travel, Goa has become one of the most favoured leisure travel destinations of domestic travellers. There are many reasons for that such as safety, cleanliness, hygiene, international level service standards, and a skilled, professional and friendly workforce,” she says.

With new trends in travel such as workcation, the number of visitors going to Goa is set to rise further.  The stakeholders in the tourism industry remain hopeful for the near future despite the looming threat of the new variant of Covid-19.