Goa sees a surge in New Year tourists despite restrictions

Goa saw a massive surge of tourists on New Year's Eve, despite the state government's restrictions. Goa is a prime destination for the winter months, most notably over the year-end, but this year the government had imposed tough restrictions to curb the spread of the virus. Despite the rules and regulations, tourism over the year-end boomed, with tourists crowding beaches, nightclubs, and pubs.
India had imposed night curfews on major cities in the run up to New Year's Eve, since a surge in COVID-19 cases. Goa too had done the same, with authorities ruling that all establishments, such as bars, casinos, and restaurants, will only admit those guests with valid vaccination certificates, or those with a negative test result. Notably, Calangute, in North Goa was thronged by tourists.

Goa was so busy over the New Year's that managers of cruise boats and restaurants said that they found it hard to keep up with the surge in customers. In fact, workers were kept busy round the clock from 11 am in the morning to 11 pm at night. Goa certainly has its charms, but the lack of responsibility on the part of travellers is astonishing. Especially at a time when the world is facing fresh concerns over the new variant of coronavirus, Omicron.
India has gone into defensive mode against the virus, with West Bengal being the latest state to impose partial lockdown. A total of 13154 new COVID-19 cases were reported, with a total of 268 deaths in the last 24 hours. It was the highest number of cases reported in a single day since last October.

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