Sunburn Goa 2024: Here’s why India’s largest EDM festival is struggling to finalise a venue

In July this year, Sunburn—Asia’s globally acclaimed annual EDM (electronic dance music) festival—said it will host its 18th edition on the shores of South Goa from December 28-30, 2024. 

According to a release shared by the organisers, the theme for this year’s celebrations will be ‘An underwater world journey.’ 

In fact, the organisers announced moving the venue for Sunburn 2024 to South Goa to do away with the challenges of hosting it in North Goa—the venue for its previous editions. 

The release highlighted “traffic, ingress and egress, and parking” complications, adding that South Goa offers a “better infrastructure, a panorama of virgin nature, and less congestion to make for the perfect getaway.” The note also mentioned that Sunburn will reintroduce a campsite to allow attendees to camp on the festival grounds. 

Close to two months away, the organisers are yet to announce a venue for the music festival. In an Instagram post, Sunburn communicated that the team is “...working diligently to finalise the ultimate venue for an unforgettable experience”, confirming that it will now host the festival on one of the North Goa beaches. 

What exactly went ‘south’? YS Life explores. 

Incepted in 2007 by Shailendra Singh, Sunburn Goa has been instrumental in making EDM popular in India. Despite its modest beginnings in North Goa’s Candolim Beach, the festival drew the attention of India’s youth, soon featuring renowned DJs, including Carl Cox and Above and Beyond. 

With the surge in EDM festivals globally, Sunburn Goa grew rapidly—in terms of scale and attendance—with the annual attendees number reaching over a lakh. Previous headliners included the likes of Afrojack and David Guetta, and the organisers soon moved the festival to Vagator Beach, allowing it to accommodate more people, stages, and an extensive line of artists.

However, after facing regulatory and logistical issues in 2016, Sunburn Goa had to shift its base to Pune, with the promise of retaining the same experience. It was only in 2020 that the music festival returned to its home turf in Goa. 

This year, Sunburn Goa announced it was moving to the southern part of the state. “Our vision is to elevate the bar each year and ensure we offer a memorable experience… we cannot wait for people to experience the magic of South Goa along with us,” Karan Singh, CEO of Sunburn, said in a statement. 

Soon enough, the festival faced backlash from the locals. 

“The main change (from when Sunburn was first hosted in Candolim Beach) is that locals used to be excited about the festival earlier, but now people are fed up with the traffic and crowds since the festival happens at the busiest time of the year,” says Sapna Shahani, the founder of a marketing agency, who has been calling Goa her home since the last 15 years. 

According to the Ministry of Tourism, as many as 20 lakh domestic and 1.7 lakh international tourists arrived in Goa in 2022. With December being the ‘peak season’ for the smallest state in India, locals suggest the rush is maddening. 

“I remember leaving hours early and on a bike, and still being stuck in traffic and unable to find parking,” Joanna Lobo, a Goa-based freelance journalist, recalls her experience of attending Sunburn seven years ago. “The noise, goes without saying, is deafening at the venue itself. In addition, there is light and air pollution.” 

Goa has always been a sought-after destination in India that attracts numerous international and domestic tourists all round the year. 

In fact, as tourism rebounded after the COVID-19 pandemic, North Goa experienced a notable increase in restaurant openings, with dining establishments aiming to attract tourists with diverse cuisines and innovation. 

Notably, the Assagao village experienced a sudden transformation from its dark, tree-lined narrow roads to a hip and modern dining haven, with century-old Portuguese bungalows converted into fine-dining establishments. 

While the government celebrates and promotes further development, locals aren’t happy with the on-ground challenges they face daily. “People would come to Goa to enjoy some peace and greenery and revel in nature; eat good food and enjoy a susegad holiday. Today, the greenery is fast disappearing; Goan food is losing out to North Indian and other cuisines. And there is no peace or quiet,” Lobo says. 

She adds, “Goa is getting destroyed in the name of development… I don’t believe Goa can handle the tourists she is receiving… It doesn’t help that many of them misbehave—blocking roads, making a nuisance of themselves, driving cars on beaches, and disturbing people in their homes…. The essence of what makes Goa so special is getting destroyed, and we can only watch helplessly.”

Shahani resonates the same. She says, “The ecosystem (of North Goa) has been badly affected by the rapid development in the area, and the festivals only exacerbate a serious problem.” 

She resides in Parra—the quaint village that attracted tourists’ attention after the filming of the movie Dear Zindagi on one of its beautiful coconut tree-lined roads. Once a picturesque pathway, it's challenging to pass through the Parra Road today without halting multiple times, owing to the lines of tourists queuing to pose in the middle of the road. 

Additionally, locals residing in the Anjuna-Vagator stretch—another popular area for pubs and nightclubs—have earlier protested about noise pollution, fed up with years of disruption from tourism. 

“The government hasn’t put effective systems in place to manage over-tourism. On the contrary, foreign tourists have disappeared. Goa’s economy depends on tourism, but unchecked growth in the wrong direction has destroyed the natural and cultural flavours that international crowds were drawn to and have, instead, made Goa like any other part of India,” a frustrated Shahani exclaims. 

However, unlike its northern counterpart, South Goa, yet to be hit by tourist influx, continues to retain its pristine beaches and serene surroundings. The locals seem to want to keep it that way. 

Residents and public figures from South Goa have been protesting that the Sunburn festival might bring with it similar concerns around disruption, drug use, and impact on the environment, straining local infrastructure—much like what North Goa has experienced. 

Shahani adds, “The urban youth attending (the festival) aren’t sensitive to littering in Goa.” 

Lobo emphasises how Sunburn organisers were initially in talks to host the music festival in Camurlim village of South Goa, where she resides. “The village is small and will not be able to handle such an event. Luckily, a meeting of all the villagers decided they didn’t want the festival,” she says. 

YS Life reached out to Sunburn, however, the organisers declined to comment.

Having said that, Goa’s economy continues to largely depend on tourism, accounting for 16.43% of the state’s GDP and employing around 35% of its population. 

Jack Sukhija, President of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), in a media statement, said, “Sunburn has significantly boosted tourism in Goa, boosting local economy, tourism, and driving business growth across various sectors, benefitting from the festival's global draw. All over the world, events supplement the tourism economy… stimulating business in sectors such as hotels, F&B, transport, and more…” 

Goa-based Sonam Sharma*, the India Head - Customer Success of a social networking service startup, resonates with this idea. She says, “Goa economy, jobs, locals, and businesses are supported by festivals, tourists, and travellers… With certain rules and regulations, festivals should work wonders for Goa tourism and its economy.”

Despite the objections, Sunburn organisers continue with the preparations while awaiting the final approval from the state’s authorities before confirming the location by the end of this week. Recently, another popular music festival—Echoes of Earth—announced it was postponing its Goa edition indefinitely “due to unforeseen circumstances”. 

*Name has been changed to protect identity.

(The story was updated to fix a spelling error)