Bikini to be back in Goa tourism department's campaigns

Almost a year after deciding not to use bikini-clad women in its campaigns, Goa tourism department has had a rethink.

State tourism director Swapnil Naik told PTI that department recently signed up three beauties for an advertising campaign, and two of the ladies would appear in bikinis.

The latest campaign, which aims to promote Goa in Europe, features Former Miss Russia Svetlana Stepankovskaya, Indian model Alisha Pekha and Bollywood actor Mahima Chaudhary.

Stepankovskaya and Pekha would be wearing bikinis in the advertisements.

Earlier, tourism department had decided to shun the bikini beauties, fearing that it portrayed "wrong image" of the state.

The then Tourism Minister, Fransisco Micky Pacheco, had said that government advertisements would not have bikini-wearing women.

But Naik said that this was no volte-face, as the new advertisements were only for the European audiences.

The advertisements - in the form of TV commercials -would be aired in Russia and the UK, two countries from where Goa gets majority of its foreign tourists.

Goa attracts 25 lakh tourists annually, of which 4 lakh are foreigners, mainly from the European countries.