Germans say goodbye to Goa due to filth: Experts

"The Germans who have arrived on their holiday in Goa recently have written on our website that they are saying good bye to the state," Aurobindo A P G Xavier, President, Indo-German Friendship Society, Goa, told PTI.

He said that the website run by the society (www.igsg. org) has been receiving articles by German visitors who find the state as filthy.

"Moreover, it's expensive destination. Tourists find Thailand cheaper than Goa, so they have now changed their choice," Xavier, a Goan-based in Germany, said.

Xavier is amongst the batch of Goans who were studying in Portugal when Goa was liberated from Portuguese rule.

He later travelled to Germany to eke out living and has made the European state as his home.

He said that there many German tourists who come to Goa and cut short their trip and venture to other destinations as they find garbage around as menacing.

"Germans are conscious about the environment," Xavier added. Goa, which receives 24 lakh tourists annually, is grappling with the garbage issue and tourism department has itself conceded that litter on the beaches is not welcomed by the tourists.

Xavier said that the drug menace on the beaches also discourages Germans. "There is lot of drugs and sex on the beaches which is driving away Germans,” he said.

Russians are the largest chunk of foreign tourists visiting Goa followed by UK. As per a rough estimate, Goa receives around 8,000 German travellers.