Goa to have no EDM festival this year?
Goa Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar said no organizer has approached the government to conduct the electronic, dance and music (EDM) festival this year. The EDM festivals are extremely popular among tourists and are usually held in December. The absence of these events will eventually affect the tourist footfalls this year, feels The Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), umbrella organization of tour operators.
We can't organize EDM festivals since no one applied: Ajgaonkar
Earlier, EDM festivals like 'Sunburn', 'Supersonic' and 'TimeOut 72' were quite popular among tourists around Christmas in the coastal belt of North Goa. 'TimeOut 72' was held in December last year, but 'Sunburn' shifted its venue to Pune (Maharashtra) after 2015. "We want the EDM festivals to happen in Goa. But since no one has applied, we can't do anything about it," said Ajgaonkar.
Will absence of EDM festivals impact tourist footfalls in Goa?
Asked if the absence of such festivals will have an impact on tourist footfalls, as feared by TTAG, Ajgaonkar said, "Nothing can be said about it. People come here for Goa's beauty but festivals add to the attraction too." Meanwhile TTAG president Savio Messiah said, "Large number of tickets sold for such events held in previous years indicate that visitors enthusiastically participate in them."
Since 2007, tourism-related activities spiked due to Sunburn: TTAG member
Since 2007, the Sunburn festival led to a huge increase in tourism-related activities in the coastal state, another TTAG member claimed. "The attendance at the four-day Sunburn festival in 2015 at Vagator in North Goa was around 70,000. Even if we assume that around 15% of the participants were local Goans, the rest 60,000 came from across India and other countries," he noted.
Festivals like Sunburn bring in Rs. 630cr to Goa!
As per conservative estimates, these visitors spend roughly Rs. 15,000 per day on hotel stay, food, beverages, local travel and shopping. With this estimate, the average seven-day visit cost for those coming to attend festivals like Sunburn would be a whopping Rs. 630cr, he claimed.
