How Goa became an attractive destination for those who don't want to stay back in cities

While the decision to take refuge in more peaceful environs is a carefully considered one for some, others did it on the fly. Mumbai-based actor and voice-over artiste Tamara D’Souza landed in Goa on June 22 for a four-day advertisement shoot. But three days in, she cancelled her return ticket, deciding instead to stay back at her family home in Goa. “I feel safer here, with fewer people around. I plan to stay on for at least another two months,” says the 31-year-old. In Mumbai, she says she had started to wake up in fear as building after building in the neighbourhood was getting sealed because of Covid-19 cases. But what about things like, uhm, clothes, considering she would have packed just for four days? “After a few days, I realised I did not need so many. My needs here are much simpler.”

Neha Gupta’s decision to stay back in Goa sounds no less impulsive than D’Souza’s but it is more permanent. The pottery teacher came to Goa from Navi Mumbai with her son for a two-week holiday in mid-March. She does not intend to return now. “I have a house here. The more time I spent here, the more I started wondering why should I go back at all,” says the 46-year-old. She has found a school for her 14-year-old son near her home in Nerul and is exulting in the sense of community she is discovering in her new neighbourhood. “It would probably have been difficult to take this kind of decision when everything is normal!”

Goa, in fact, looks poised to be a destination that might attract professionals who do not want to stay back in cities but who might not want to return to their hometowns either because of factors like lack of connectivity or patchy internet. “Once the monsoon is over, I plan to rent a 3-bedroom house in Goa and work from there, along with two friends. As long as we can work from home, why not do it from a pretty place,” says Kovid Kapoor, co-founder of Holidify. The company, which helps people plan holidays, is seeing a rise in enquiries about long-term leases for properties in Goa though bookings are slow, he says.

People now look for properties that are like a home away from a home, with an option for long-term stays, should they choose to also work. Rishi Modi, an Airbnb host in Goa, said all his 12 properties are full and most guests are from the metros. “Our properties were shut for three months. But in August, people from Pune, Bengaluru and Mumbai came down to Goa in droves… They brought their nannies and cars full of luggage. Now they are working from our units. Currently, we have a lot of CXOs who have chosen to operate out of our units,” said Modi. “Earlier, our average stay was 3.5 nights, but now bookings are for 16 nights.