The shack owners have their demands, the taxi operators have theirs and are at odds with the rent-a-car operators, and the government has not been able to meet any of the demands. The number of charter flights dropped last year and there are no new markets opening up. And while the government gets bogged down by these issues, the main selling point of Goa – the beautiful and pristine beaches – is left unattended.
Suddenly, the beaches of Goa are dirtier than ever before, and they are also getting to be dangerous. Not the waters, that are manned by lifeguards who are willing to dive into the Arabian Sea and rescue any tourist or local in trouble, it is the sands that are turning out to be dangerous. A barefoot walk on the beaches of Goa – especially the beaches where tourists throng – can lead to cuts on the feet from the shards of glass that lie innocently hidden beneath the grains of sand. And to add to it, there’s dead fish, stray dogs and muck on the beaches, and a stench that pervades all over. With the beach cleaning contract cancelled, nobody knows who is going to clean the beaches. The fact is, the beaches are losing their sheen, but has the government stopped to think what will Goa tourism be without its beaches?
Every year, around the time the waters of the Arabian Sea begin their annual churning, usually the height of the summer in Goa, tar balls get washed ashore leaving unsightly little blobs of oil on the sands, forcing tourists away from the beach. The government has been seized of this matter and a protocol established to deal with the tar balls that appear annually. If that’s an old menace, now there’s the new threat – that of plastic getting washed ashore during the monsoon. Goa’s beaches appear to be plagued by natural and manmade threats.
Goa has little to showcase to the tourists other than the beaches. Its promotion of hinterland and heritage tourism has neither picked up nor drawn tourists to those areas. The Old Goa churches and the Ponda temples are visited during the day, and the river cruises wind up the tour in the evening. The night life is almost non-existent, except for the clubs in the coastal area. It is the beaches where the people spend time, an entire day bathing in the sun and swimming in the waters. That has been Goa’s USP over the last few decades. If these are not clean will the tourist keep coming?
The government has to turn to keeping the beaches clean with a new urgency. The Herald ground report of the condition of the beaches found that even Calangute, which draws the largest number of tourists is not clean. There was dung, garbage and glass pieces on the beach. It was the same with other beaches on this belt. But, this cannot continue. There is an urgent need for the government to begin clearing up the beaches or else the foreign tourists Goa receives will start looking at other places at which to holiday.
Goa sells itself as a beach destination, yet it has not learnt that it needs to maintain the beaches if it wants tourists to come, recommend the place once back in their home country or state and even return to Goa. The beaches of Goa are its asset and like any asset they have to be maintained. Unless this is done, tourism will take a dive. It has to be an effort of the government and the various tourism stakeholders to ensure that the beaches of Goa are kept free of garbage.
