Caravela Beach Resort, in association with Consul General of India in New York, recently organized an interaction to promote Goa in the US market. The Consulate had sent invitations with a colourful flyer of Goa to travel agents, media, event planners, opinion makers and NRIs. The meeting saw the participation of Sunder G. Advani, CMD, Advani Hotels & Resorts (India), Randhir Jaiswal, Consul General of India in New York and Dr Varun Jeph, Deputy Consul General of India in New York amongst others.
Addressing the gathering, Advani said that Goa has something for all. Citing TripAdvisor’s rating 2022, he said that 4 of the top beaches in Asia are in South Goa and these are Cavelossim, Agonda, Benaulim and Varca. “There are so many beaches in Goa and every beach is distinct from others. Some are purely for relaxation while others are for merry making and nature lovers. The Goa government has appointed an agency which provides lifeguards at important beaches. The Govt has made arrangements to monitor the beaches and fine the offenders to keep the beaches clean and prevent vehicles on the beach,” he said and urged attendees to visit Goa once in their lifetime.
Advani also reminded the NRIs present of the message conveyed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Finland that they should ask their friends to come with them to India.
He further informed that Goa is secure and steady with exciting dive places for scuba diving.” Beginners in addition to non-swimmers can start on the shallow aspect of the sea, while skilled and expert divers can choose directly for the extra adventurous dive sites along with cliffs, caverns, reefs, pinnacles and wreck,” he highlighted.
Also, Grande Island is well-known for offering the best adventure water sports like snorkelling and scuba diving in goa. With an intensity from 7 meters to twenty-five meters, the vicinity gives a few outstanding dive sites to pick out from. Grande island is very close to Dabolim international airport.
Describing more about the product offering of the state, Advani said that Goa has 11 rivers. “A new parallel bridge is almost completed over the Zuari river which connects the airport to the capital and North Goa. This will be a big tourist attraction to match the Eiffel Tower. Another popular tourist attraction is the Doodhsagar Waterfalls. Goa has a large forest cover which is habitat of tigers, leopards, other wildlife and birds amongst others,” he informed adding that Goa celebrates Carnival on the same day as done in Brazil.
Goa has three golf courses including the first one at the Caravela Beach Resort. Goa is a favourite destination for Weddings and get togethers.
Goa is also the only state having casinos. “Six full-fledged casinos on ships are anchored in the river in Panjim. There are also a dozen electronic casinos in 5-star hotels. I had the luck to own the first electronic casino in Goa in our resort and also the first full-fledged casino on our ship called Caravela. We sold our Casino Caravela to a company that owns three of the six casinos, he revealed.
Americans who had visited Goa said they loved Goa. He suggested that they should make Goa the first entry point to India as it would be a lesser cultural shock and also be the last stop in India to recuperate after seeing the monuments such as the Taj Mahal. “Goa is now a 365-day destination and tourists come to Goa throughout the year although room rates are lower in the months in the period between July and September,” he informed.
The CMD informed that 937,000 foreign tourists visited Goa in 2019 but this number declined to 303,000 in 2020 due to COVID-19. “Goa suffered most because international flights were restricted to a few cities until 27th March 2022. Goa is the only state in India which had been receiving international charter flights that started from Frankfurt and London 35 years ago. Goa also received foreign tourists on scheduled flights of Qatar Airways and Air India,” he said.
He also informed that the Government of Goa is also focused on developing world class tourism infrastructure in the state. “The Chief Minister of Goa, Dr Pramod Sawant is spending huge amounts on improving the infrastructure of Goa. He is very interested in providing support to the tourism industry and was planning to join me at this event but could not come due to pressing issues,” Advani informed.
On the accommodation, Advani, citing Ministry of Tourism’s statistics, said that Goa has 44 hotels with 4400 guest rooms which are approved by the Govt of India. 15 of these hotels have been classified as 5 star deluxe. Another 15 are classified as 5 star and the rest are in lower categories. The Taj Group has 6 hotels in Goa including a Convention Centre hotel as part of a tie-up with Cidade Hotel. Marriott has hotel in the capital city, a ‘W’, Le-Meridien, Westin and Fairfield. Hilton has 2 properties in Goa. IHG has a Holiday Inn. Radisson and Grand Hyatt and Novotel are also present in Goa.
Tourists can reach Goa from New York on direct flights of Air India to Mumbai or Delhi and take one of the frequent connecting flights to Goa. They can also fly to Dubai or Doha and transfer directly to Goa. There are now connecting flights from most major cities in India to Goa airport.
He said that he had visited Hawaii, Barbados, Mexico Puerto Rico, Bali, Thailand etc but fell in love with Goa and decided to build a hotel in Goa in 1988 using the same architect firm which designed the Bellagio and Wynne in Las Vegas as well as the famous resorts in Hawaii.
Murari Mohan Jha
