By Manik Mehta

Singapore, Oct 24 (IANS) Goa is a "very safe destination" for tourists, its Tourism Minister Francisco Xavier Pacheco said here in an attempt to counter negative reports in the international media about cases of rape of foreign women tourists and attacks on overseas visitors in the state.

"I am personally here to give assurances that Goa is a very safe destination for both foreign and domestic tourists," Pacheco told IANS during the ongoing ITB Asia 2009, Asia's largest tourism fair.

The event, a barometer for tourism trends in Asia, is organised by Messe Berlin GmbH, which organises international trade fairs and congresses.

"We have increased vigilance through our security and special tourist police groups to provide protection to tourists at beaches and other places of tourist interest," Pacheco added.

"Tourism to Goa has, generally, not been affected by these incidents," Pacheco claimed, adding that not even the general global downturn have had any impact on traffic to the state.

"In fact, tourist flow into Goa continues as before," he maintained.

Goa, the minister added, had attracted more than 13 million tourists from around the globe, with Britain, Russia and the Scandinavian nations being the main sources of tourism traffic.

"Tourism is the backbone of our economy. This is evident from the fact that the sector generated taxes amounting to Rs.1,500 crore for Goa," Pacheco said.

"We give priority to private investors, and also welcome international hotels to set up properties in the state."

According to Neela Lad, assistant director at the India Tourism Office here, India has been able to arrest the declining trend in tourism traffic from Singapore following last year's Mumbai terror attacks, which had resulted in cancellations and created doubts about the safety of foreign visitors.

"The situation is much better now. We had about 80,000 tourists from Singapore in 2008 and expect a modest increase this year," Lad maintained.