Panaji: A decade ago visitors who came to the Panaji at night could not but note his calm.
With an empty office from his staff, Panaji looked like meditating at the end of the day facing his long companion, Mandovi when the waves touched the beach softly like soft background music.
When offshore casinos strengthen their rights in the waters of the city assisted by state politicians who are in a hurry to make Cave Las Vegas in India, what people hear today are just the sound of rotating propellers, and playing music on a cruise ship.
At present, the casino who occupies the river city limit is the first prosecutor of visitors’ attention.
Billboard casino shines big Beckon every tourist for betting.
While the country’s capital loses its majesty in the midst of the casino kingdom, so it is also the cave tourism of its conventional profile – the land, sand, and the sun.
Now, it is also known as a casino land.
“Goa is the only state in a country that has offshore casinos.
So, anyone who likes casinos and gambling comes to Goa,” said Hotelier Ralph Desouza.
“All hotels in and around Panaji are largely dependent on casinos.
While Goa does have other attractions, they seem to have been lost or absent.” Chief Executive Officer in the Jamboree Cruises Edward Noronha said that whatever the query he received before the government raised restrictions related to Covid -19, to find out if the casino has been opened.
When the government allowed tourism activities in full swing in October-November 2020 as the first wave of Coronavirus receded, it was a casino that attracted all the attention while their cruise ship operators could not even recover their operating costs.
“We don’t know how things will run but when we opened eight months after the first wave, we did not get enough business to cover staff salaries,” he said.
“The majority of tourists, who visit Goa after the pandemic begins, has high income and can buy casinos.
Tourists have an average income or below the average, which we call ‘Janata Crowd’ have not started visiting the cave in large quantities,” he said .
It will not be wrong to say that the casino has become a greater beneficiary of the change in the profile of domestic tourists visiting Goa.
If a few years ago, wells to do young Indian tourists were happy to enjoy the night life of Goa and spend a few nights casually on the beach with a glass of wine or liquor at hand, the current definition of the ideal holiday of Goa is incomplete if he doesn’t spend time In offshore casinos, regardless of whether he is a habitual gambler or not.
Amey Parsekar of Remastizer Cruises said that after the pandemic began, vacationing in foreign areas became impossible.
The segment of Indians who vacation abroad is increasingly starting to come to Goa who want a premium experience, whether a cruise ship or casino.
“Last November, we noticed that people who were not used to traveling abroad for vacation landed in Goa.
Trends likely to continue this year,” he said.
Parsekar said that since 2010, the number of Indian employees visiting Goa has grown significantly with several larger parts in the bracket aged 20 to 40 years, with high shopping power.
Data from the Tourism Department showed that annual domestic footsteps jumped from around 27 lakhs in 2012 to more than 80 lakh in 2019.
“Previous generations will save the whole year for the annual trip, but young people from Indian cities go to Goa two to Three years a year, “said Parsekar.
In recent years, even during the rainy season, Goa sees an increase in footsteps on weekends and weeks extended with young men and women from the metropolitan area to make the road to the state of their fullness.
Tourists and their vehicles jostled for space outside the casino entrance that has been eaten into the city area, and their four-wheeled parked along the road from captain Port to a few meters outside the historic palace of the historic Shah, is enough evidence for Goa .
has shifted the gear.