Goa is visited by large numbers of international and domestic tourists each year for its beaches, places of worship and world heritage architecture
Every trace of Portuguese influence is quite visible here, making it an exotic place in India, where Roman Catholicism and Hinduism come together with other important Indian religions. Moreover, with a great number of nice sandy beaches and being culturally diverse, Goa naturally represents the number one spot for foreign tourists.
Goa is more than an eponymous city. It is in fact an entire state within a state in southwest India, representing the smallest state in terms of area and the fourth smallest by population. However, it is by far the most popular. And it is also rich. Indeed, Goa is one of India’s richest states, with GDP per capita two and a half times that of the national average. And, funnily enough, Old Goa, (Velha Goa in Portuguese) is no longer the state capital, although Old Goa and the historic city of Margao still exhibit the cultural influence of the Portuguese, who first landed there in the early 16th century.
It is Old Goa, which is listed as a UNESCO protected cultural heritage site, that actually attracts people. Goa is visited by large numbers of international and domestic tourists each year for its beaches, places of worship and world heritage architecture. Old Goa is, oddly enough, so big (200,000 inhabitants in the 19th century) that it was only abandoned due to the plague. Old Goa, located 10 km from the capital, contains many well preserved churches and represents India’s greatest pride.
Tourism is Goa’s primary industry: it receives 12% of all foreign tourist arrivals in India. Goa has two main tourist seasons: winter and summer. During winter tourists from abroad (mainly Europe) come, while in summer (which is the rainy season in Goa) tourists from across India. The beaches of Goa are famous. They were spotted by Europeans and Australians long ago, and one peculiarity is that the famous sub-genre of electronic music called Goa Trance was invented here. The music has its roots in the popularity of Goa in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a hippie capital, and although musical developments incorporated elements of electronic music with the spiritual culture in India throughout the 1980s, the actual Goa trance style did not appear until the early 1990s. There are long parties and after-parties on the sandy beaches of this beautiful multicultural spot.