India, May 23 -- For Neeraj Gupta, it was a hobby that turned into a business idea. The 49-year-old engineer has been owning yachts - luxury watercraft generally used for pleasure - since 2007, which he would intermittently give out on rent whenever the request arrived. Such days, however, were rare.

But the Covid-19 years turned things around for him. Gupta, who started off with three yachts when he first started letting them out on rent through bookings via aggregators in 2015-16, today owns nine boats of various sizes. The industry as a whole, which had around nine boats for hire at the start of Covid-19, now has around 45.

"Ours is the fastest growing sector in Goa's tourism. Over the next year or so the number of yachts in operatio...