Are unemployed touts taking over tourism, in Goa?

Reports
of tourists who drove down from Bengaluru being assaulted and robbed by those
who pretended to be a tourist guide promising accommodation makes for rather
disquieting news.  The tourists are coming in droves and restaurants and
clubs on the coastline have been packed. The virus has decimated industry
leaving several thousand’s without a job. Many of them have their families
depending on them. Many may be tempted to turn to petty crime to feed their
families. In such a scenario with the season set to commence possibly in
October, the tourism industry will have to organize itself to ensure tourists
don’t experience any hardship during the course of their stay. Nilesh
Shah, President TTAG felt awareness of the situation would have to be the key.
He said “There will be crime because people will need money and hence it will
be important for us to create awareness at the border itself.  The
presence of touts he said was not a new phenomenon and the authorities would
have to take a firm stand. If they indulged in illegal activities, punishment
would have to be given. Tourists have options to visit other parts of India and
they are offering discounted rates. The market is very competitive and we have
to compete and these incidents just cannot happen”. But
Shah should acquaint himself with a harsh reality. this is not a new phenomenon
and hoteliers in the coastal belt have reported this in the past. Serafino
Cotta who has a hotel in Calangute said this was a problem they had been trying
to deal with for a very long time. He said “We made a representation to the Goa
Tourism and informed about this huge illegality but they did not
act. There is a huge problem of state revenue leakage because touts are making
a lot of money. It is a huge lobby; all the second homes of people living
outside are given to tourists. The money earned is sent out of the state
without being taxed. The number of illegal guest houses and hotels in the state
is huge. Guests want the easy way out and then get trapped. I believe this
incident will be the precursor to more. I don’t wish it to happen but it will
happen”. Anton
D ‘ Souza who owns a guest house in Calangute said this was happening for so
many years and it had been brought to the attention of the authorities but
nothing had been done.  He said almost forty per-cent of the trade was
illegal and the problem was systemic. The authorities he said claimed
responsibility only for those registered with them. If drugs were seized then
the response was that they were not registered with the authorities. They
operated in flats without permission and it was important that something ought
to be done about this problem. Padma
Nair who is a hotelier and a senior member of the Small Hotel Association,
spoke about how small hotels and by extention everyone associated with it, had
their backs broken by the COVID doom. Though this wasn’t explicitly, said it is
clear that this has led to a lot to desperation among many who lived off
tourism and at the lower rung of the ladder, the economic crisis has led to
people taking to crime. She
said “There was a moratorium till August 31 and now the banks are asking for
payment of the loans. Who is coming here, the government says start but how
does one start.  This incident that was reported was unfortunate but the
small hotels are in very bad shape. The loans are now breaking them, it’s not
human”. A
travel agent in Calangute, Carey Mascarenhas had a very interesting take on it
all. He said “I strongly feel the government should not have opened the border
in the first place. Today the tourists coming to Goa, stay in their cars, cook
on the pavements and basically of no value to tourism. This assault case in
Porvorim was very disturbing but these tourists coming here are looking for
everything cheap which then means they could come in contact with these touts.
I don’t think international tourists will come here because Goa is now number
two as far as cases are concerned and the situation is pretty grim”. The
situation on the ground is not something that will make anyone feel confident,
one can only hope sanity prevails and the authorities move in and
sort this problem out.