Local web portal the Goa Chronicle even praised the late October cancellation, calling it a "slip-up" and quoting Goa cabinet minister Nilkanth Halarnkar as saying, "We do want to indulge in any tourism strategy that would dilute the brand image Goa tourism has built over the last couple of years, and also hurt the sentiments of the people of Goa in any way. LGBT is a tourism segment that has found favor outside of India, but it is still to emerge in India, and it is too early for Goa as a state to even consider it as a market yet." The LGBT session was hastily replaced by a panel on sustainable tourism.

Panelists who had had been scheduled to appear as part of the mart's LGBT session were understandably dismayed at the eleventh hour cancellation. Speaking at the GITM media center, Rika Jean-Francois, ITB Berlin's sales director for South Asia and Pacific, as well as its commissioner for corporate social responsibility, said that despite great LGBT interest in India as a destination, Indian tourism sellers are simply not doing enough to tap this "big potential" market.

"India can close its eyes, but gay tourism is going to be there," said Thomas Bomkes,  managing director of Diversity Tourism, another of the cancelled panel's intended speakers. "It's up to India to see if they can tap this sector. If not, gay tourists will go elsewhere."

In a joint statement read aloud by Jean-Francois, panelists called LGBT travel "an emerging international segment and a consumer group with huge growing possibilities, if handled right and respected as any other client." She added that LGBT people within India also need informed travel agents to assist them in outbound travel.

Despite the panel's cancellation, Goa Tourism Director Swapnil Naik acknowledged that LGBT travel is on track to become a major aspect of the tourism industry in India. It is an emerging tourism trend in Europe, and has potential to become one of the biggest segments in tourism," he said. More than two and a half million travelers visit Goa every year, about a half million of which are foreigners.

The first-ever Asian Symposium on Gay & Lesbian Tourism will be held in New Delhi on November 28.