Got to agree with you there Alan...try Thailand,Cambodia or Vietnam.

Probably quite quiet unfortunately.

I'm not going next year. Going to have a year off or wait a while until it picks up again. There are some very smart new bars open on Tito's so I will be great for a night out as well as all the other great things we love about go. Hopefully go with a couple of couples next time too.

I can't comment on this season, as I didn't make it . but there will also be less Germans next season, as Condor have now only one flight a week to Goa, instead of two, and this is via Dubai. Also I think a lot of people are now turning their backs on package holidays, and making independant arrangements, so more are travelling with schedule airlines.
Just hope I don't have to miss another year
x lassi

Hi All

Sorry to be on a downer but we wont be going back! Felt that so much has changed over the past few years and this year made me feel really sad and disheartened about a place I used to love! I can honestly say that I was so looking forward to the plane journey home and it was such a relief to be back in the UK.



I hope it will return to the Goa we all know and love but I fear that this may never happen

xx

It will be hot and sunny and most things will still be a lot cheaper than the U.K.

JOM.... that's how I feel. After 4 weeks in Nov, saw so many changes for the worst after 3 weeks I was ready for going home, I was bored the last week, never thought I would be saying that!!!

As far as it being hot and sunny ,those two factors are, fortunatley, beyond the control of the Goan Tourism Minister, and as far as it being a lot cheaper than the U.K. the same could be said of all Goas competitors for tourists, around most of the world, and particularly in the Far East. Alan

As very long termers in Goa this year we were very fed up with it and after 4 months went to Thailand - what a revalation.
Carrefour - Tesco and Big C - we could walk there on proper pavements and buy food served by people with clean hands and not have to walk through the crap that is Calangute market.
The only draw back is the language barrier but what the heck - it's clean.

I think this will be our last time to Goa have booked 3 weeks, and a few days in Mumbai in NOV,/DEC
i like Goa more than my OH, so after being there 6 times its time to play fair,we are going with friends
this time and to be honest its the only reason we are returning we have starting cruising and already
have the bug and the value we get from cruises is
annx

i am beginning to think i`ve made a mistake in booking for next year,with what i keep reading,we are also planning thailand for the end of next year it will be our first time there,and seems,again from what people on here are saying it`s a much better bet.like most people we live for our holidays,and hate the fact that ivè gone from feeling really excited to full of doubts

Can't wait to get back - love the place. Changes, changes, changes - big deal.

Hi Spike

Im all in favour of change but over the past few years its been all for the worse. I know ive defended the place till im blue in the face but this last few weeks of being there just finally made me wake up and smell the coffee.

I hope those who still visit Goa continue to enjoy the place as I once did. As I mentioned earlier it makes me sad to finally admit that we wont be returning.

Regards
Jo

After going to Goa for 3 years we said it's time for a change but we booked to go again

On the 4th visit we said this is the last time it's time for a change !!

On the 5th visit we said this really is the last time we'll be going it's time for a change

Last year on the 6th visit we said this is the very last time we ought to go somewhere new

Guess what we've booked to go back again. We love the place, we accept the changes, love the place for what it is, still find it's better value for money than anywhere in Europe with friendly people, who although treat us as cash machines go one step further to provide customer service.

The more times you go, the more you get used to their ways of trying to make money and the more resiliant you get to their hard luck stories.

I'm sure when we go this year we'll find changes again, but hey ho we'll embrace the changes good or bad and have a bloody good time!!!

I went through the same feelings of discontent with Goa a couple of seasons back, got really bored with the place as it was getting to be "same old, same old" I also found that I got frustrated by the rapid changes happening that aren't doing anything to enhance the place either for us as tourists OR the majority of the Goan people. I was ready for a change, maybe go every alternate year but my husband wasn't having any of it so we have continued to support Goa. We made changes ourselves in that we now stay in a little guest house and this seems to suit us better than the larger hotels. As for the things that have changed that are beyond our control, well, Goa is finding out the hard way right now so maybe it will get the tourist dept. thinking of better ways to secure our business for the future. (As long as they get there heads out of the sand). I'd hate to see it change beyond all recognition as it still retains a bit of its old charm, harder to find maybe unless you search it out, but it is there if you look for it. It was certainly quiet this season and to be honest I liked it like that, reminded me a little of how it used to be but I did feel sorry for those smaller businesses and the hotel/restaurant staff who rely on us tourists to make a living. Next season we shall have to wait and see what it brings............but I think it will get worse before it gets better I was planning to return on my own in November, was really looking forward to it and had started looking for deals but sadly, due to unforeseen family circumstances it may not now happen but I WILL be going back as soon as its possible to do so. Quiet or busy, the weather is consistently hot, the drinks are consistently cold and the welcome we get from friends both Goan and from the UK is worth every pound spent to get there so to everyone who is planning on returning.................see you on the beach (soon I hope) Fizz x

Im all in favour of change but over the past few years its been all for the worse. I know ive defended the place till im blue in the face.

Jom1964 - Got to agree we have done exactly the same, however, after 5 years we finally gave up and did not return this year, went to Cuba instead. There are too many places in the world to see...we will not be returning, We would just prefer to remember all the good times we had there...but I'm afraid the Goans have ruined it for themselves.

Can say that I don't think I'll be back this year, will be the first time in 8 years that I haven't been back. I think I'll try Thailand or Vietnam.

Well we did not go this season and did not miss it after last year, but we will go again, maybee in a few years. We are off to Turkey for a change and maybe try thailand for the first time later on this year

When I started this post I wondered if it was just me that was able to see where Goa appears to be heading, but by the responses it would appear not. We're just back from four weeks in Oz, and are off to revisit Thailand again in June. We'll return to Goa in November, mostly to meet up with friends, rather than any feelings that much of the Goa we fell in love with all these years ago remains. It seems that these last couple of years ago that the rot really set in, mostly I would say with Goas headlong dash to get onto the "gravy train" of tourism without really putting anything back into the infrastructure. It saddens me greatly what they've done, only old timers will remember when there was only a fraction of the buildings in Calangute high st. and it was lined with palm trees, hard to believe looking at it now.We'll still visit,as there's still so much to see in India, and a love affair with a country that stretches back 52 years, is hard to walk away from, but whatever wonders India has in store for us, I fear they will be outside of Goas borders. Alan

It will undoubtedly be quieter.Remember the whole world is going through a recession and one of the things that happens is people cannot afford holidays.

Thailand is having a terrible time at the moment so it is not just Goa.

I think we will be back next year but will not be paying what the tour operators are charging at the moment.May go independently.

Thinking of trying Sri Lanka in September so if thats good who knows.

Papa