Abstract: Tourism has recently risen in priority within India’s national development policy with the explicit goal of increasing foreign exchange earnings and employment. The state government of Goa has been institutionalising and promoting luxury tourism on a massive scale as an industrial development strategy since the 1980s. Drawing on a number of empirical studies on tourism in Goa, the lecture will draw together the policies and practices of tourism management in conjunction with the principles of sustainable development in order to address the central question: Under what conditions can tourism fulfil the promises of development without the pitfalls?