TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: As the State of Goa ushered in the New Year, people celebrated, let their hair down and made New Year resolutions as part of the celebrations as the slow countdown ended in a cacophony of whistles and music amidst bursting of crackers and fireworks.
The religious minded finished off their midnight masses before letting their hair down while merry-makers from all over the country ~ at least 3 lakh of them joined locals in bringing in the New Year 2014.
Even though the airfares into and out of the State were rising almost on an hourly basis and vehicles from all over seen making a beeline for the coastal belts ~ a trip from the capital to Baga, which is around 14 km taking almost 2 hours.
The Christmas week leading up to the New Year saw soaring prices and increasing dim industrial climate not hit the celebrations with as lighted houses, cribs, stars and Christmas parties rampant all over. The tourists too have not spared the State with hordes heading to the coastal State with parties and dances taking place as well as three electronic festivals.
All headed to the year enders with Goa being the place to be for the year end, if you are a party animal or just happy chilling on a beachside shack and watching as the State went berserk as the clock struck midnight.
Nothing new here ~ all roads ~ led to the coastal State with the palm fringed pearly-white beaches. But this time according to reports, the increase in the tourists could be more than 20 per cent while the increase in rates in hotel rooms atleast 15-10 per cent. At this time too there is a lot of influx from Goans living abroad who come down to be with their families.
According to reports there are more than 85,000 rooms and most of them were filled on the year-end with at least 6 lakh tourists visiting the State during this period, half for the New Year itself.
According to the 2011 census, the population of Goa is 14 lakh.
The coastal belts especially Baga-Calangute-Anjuna-Vagator are where the main action takes place for the tourists while the locals frequented the dances at Panjim, Margao, Parra, Verna, etc. All the hotels including the five stars had their shows for the New Year.
However, not everyone is happy about this influx. Locals grumbled that the season has hit them with rising prices ~ coconuts being sold in retail for Rs 20, eggs for Rs 55 and a kg of king fish is going for anything from Rs 450 to Rs 550 while the increase in vegetables was not much.
