Mumbai, Feb. 10 -- Even as the debate on the decline of Goa as a tourist destination rages on, the state's tourism minister is confident of its growth, and says the state is now demonstrably a "luxury" destination.

"I have seen videos that influencers have been taking at 5am and 6am, saying the beaches are empty," Rohan Khaunte Goa's minister for tourism, IT, E&C, and printing and stationery, told Mint in an interview.

"We have done our numbers. The 5-stars [hotels] and 4-stars [hotels] are running at almost 100% capacity..." he said. "That talk about quality tourists coming in... the whole thought is that Goa has become a 'costly' destination. But Goa, being at that cost, I would say is a luxury destination, and people are buying it."...