it is raining heavily and for days now there has been no sign of sunshine and yet you can see tourists on the streets of goa you can spot them trying to capture memories or making reels at fontainhas panajis latin quartersimilar scenes also play out at goas popular beaches while swimming in the sea is banned during the rains it is no deterrent for tourists beaches still get crowded on weekends albeit not as much as in the nonmonsoon monthsthe scope for outdoor activities shrinks during the rains but despite this goas allure as a monsoon tourism destination has increased many choose to holiday in goa during the monsoon as the destination is costly and crowded during other times of the yearhotel rates are down and the place is also less crowded said nishanth and hariprasad it professionals from bengaluru who holidayed in goa last weekuntil a few years ago hotel bookings would drop below the 50 mark with the arrival of the monsoon as visitors would be left confined to their rooms most hotels would then partially close and the break would be used to carry out repair and renovation work but no morehotels record over 50 occupancy during the monsoonpeople love the goa monsoon vibe they want to enjoy the rains the lushness the rivers and the waterfalls said guitry velho vicepresident of heritage village resort and spa goahowever certain segments of the corporate world velho said even in the past would choose to hold their events in goa during the rains with hotel tariffs reducing by about 20with corporate events and other segments of travellers such as families and free independent travellers fits we see an average occupancy of 60 to 70 in the monsoon though it may dip on wet days said velhobetween june and september hotels record an average occupancy of 50 to 60 and some even more said nilesh shah president of the travel and tourism association of goa ttagwhile there may not be an array of things to do in goa during the rains hiking and trekking offer tourists a chance to see the states hinterlands and water bodiesbesides the goa tourism development corporations gtdc sunday monsoon treks several private entities conduct treks covering various parts of goa and record a healthy attendance of both tourists and localswe have people joining our trek from other states as well said anil dalal manager gtdcthe goa wing of the youth hostel association of india which has been running a monsoon trekking expedition since 2013 had to throw open an eighth batch this year with the response being hugelike last year we planned to have only five batches of 100 participants each but with applications still pouring in the registration for the eighth batch is under way said manoj joshi who heads the goa branchthe response he said has been overwhelming despite no publicity all their participants are from outside goa he addedgoa is more beautiful during the monsoon than winter said joshithose seeking a