The residents believe that social norms and culture of Goa is not so liberal to the extent of permitting lewd behaviour on beaches or its streets. They also think that there is disconnect between the true culture of Goa and the one projected to the outside world through the media. In a list given by National Geographic, Goa is ranked 6th in the world’s 10 best nightlife cities. Goa has witnessed 23.5% growth in foreign tourists’ arrivals in April 2017 over April, 2016. Media advertising has played a major role in putting Goa on the world tourism map. It is believed that the image of Goa projected to the world is that of a western enclave in India, an acknowledged ancient oriental civilization. This contradicts with the real culture of Goa, which despite for 50 years of colonial rule of Portuguese has largely remained orthodox and conservative among its Hindu, Muslim and Christian communities.

It is generally felt that resident community of Goa hold the view that Goa is projected in the media as having a permissive and indulgent culture. This is believed to attract the western tourists who have a liberal culture and also have sexual motives while travelling. Residents in general are believed to be thinking that Goa has a more or less conservative culture. This kind of a projection and the resultant attitude of tourists create a discord between the tourist and residents. While it is a fact that tourism brings the much wanted economic benefits to the residents, it is also necessary that tourists respect the culture of Goa and there is harmony between the interests of tourists and residents. This paper attempts to understand the relation among the perceptions of tourists and residents with respect to the permissiveness and indulgence in the culture of Goa and the role of media in contributing to the discord between the two if any.