Goa tourism booms as Gen Z, Millennials, and solo women travellers embrace hinterlands

Panaji: Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen Alpha, along with solo women travellers, are increasingly driving tourism to Goa, said tourism minister Rohan Khaunte on Wednesday. With data suggesting that Gen Z and Millennials account for nine of 10 new bookings, Khaunte said a strategy must be put in place to channel these tourists towards Goa’s hinterlands.
He also said that contrary to the social media narrative, Goa is the top destination in terms of nights booked in the country by domestic and international travellers. “Let’s start focusing more on the rural belt than the coastal belt. The inventory on the coast gets sold. We need to ensure that people start discovering what we have in the rural areas,” said Khaunte.
The minister was speaking at an event organised in collaboration with Airbnb. The online homestay aggregator is a partner in the ‘Goa Beyond Beaches’ initiative rolled out by the department.
“Goa saw a 20% increase in nights booked year over year in 2024 versus 2023, both for domestic as well as inbound travellers. In fact, Goa was the number one destination in India in terms of nights booked for international travellers coming into India,” said Amanpreet Bajaj, Airbnb’s general manager for India, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Khaunte said that 40% of Gen Z and Gen Alpha are solo women travellers who decide to travel in less than five to six days. The minister urged Airbnb and the department to focus on this sector in the coming quarters. “Our focus, as the minister said, is, we want to go beyond the coastal line, beyond beaches. Our focus has been to disperse travel from the beaches to some of these hinterland areas,” said Bajaj.