'Tourists with less clothes blind Goa visitors'

Foreign tourists wearing "less clothes" at Goa beaches often blind visitors coming to the state, as they cannot see anything else, a witty Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said Tuesday.

He was speaking at the national workshop on "Electronic System Design and manufacturing: Advantage Goa" held at a hotel here.

"Foreign tourists with less clothes brighten things so much that often you do not see anything else," Parrikar said, while making a point about how the overwhelming footprint of tourism in the state, often led visitors to the state to believe that Goa does not have any other significant industry.

Further allegorising, the chief minister, who is known for his wit, said that just because one does not see the moon and stars during the day, does not mean they aren't there.
"It is just that they are hidden because of the sunlight," Parrikar said.

"You just see tourism here. But we have other industries too like the pharmaceutical and IT industry, which are doing very well," he further said.

Foreign tourists wearing beachwear has often been synonymous with media coverage of Goa's beach belt. The state attracts over 2.6 million tourists annually, out of which half a million are foreigners.