Even as there are fears being voiced across the spectrum that the closure of liquor outlets along highways will hit tourism in the State, an official said that tourists do not come to Goa only because of the availability of liquor. While he may be absolutely right, the question is: what is Goa Tourism doing to ensure that the State remains on the top of holidayers list of places to visit? This tourism season, not only was the shack policy long delayed and the electronic dance music festivals relocated outside the State, but as Carnival approaches, there appears to be little effort put to give tourists and Goans an event to remember.
Goa is now two days away from another Carnival celebration and for another year the revelry is going to remain the same. The Carnival organising committees of the various town, that are made up of almost the same persons, are yet to get the government funds; the routes for the various float parades is the same; the theme for the floats also remains the same and there is even no change in the King Momo who has been selected to lead the float parade and declare his four-day rule in the State. Carnival 2017 is heading to be almost a repeat of what has transpired year after year with no change.
One would assume that Carnival being one of the State’s biggest tourism attractions, the Tourism Department that promotes the festival and controls the finances for its organisation would have put more thought and effort into making Carnival an event to remember for the local population and the tourists. But nothing of that sort has happened. It is as if the Carnival celebrations are caught in a time warp with the organisation of the festival having remained very much as it was a decade and more ago with only some very few token changes having been introduced, with even the changes proposed having been reversed at almost the eleventh hour.
Take for instance the decision that had been taken to change the Panjim parade route this year and have the float parade begin from Miramar and take the concrete road to Dona Paula. The floats would gather at Miramar and disperse via Dona Paula towards Bambolim, without entering the city. This would ease the traffic congestion in the city that occurs at every Carnival parade, as even spectators who line up the parade route would be able to park on side roads of Miramar and Caranzalem. With days left for the Carnival parade this decision was reversed and the parade will follow the old route from below the Mandovi bridge going up to Kala Academy.
There is no innovation in the Carnival yet, there is nothing traditional about the celebrations either. What is missing from the Carnival is the spontaneity that those who lived between the 1930s and 1960s describe it to have been. Had Goa Tourism returned to the traditional ways of celebrating Carnival then it could have been credited for attempting to make a change. The King Momo was introduced in Goa in the 1960s by Timoteo Fernandes who had read about it in foreign magazines, and the float parade came into being in the 1970s, with a brief lull in the 1980s, before it was reintroduced in the form of a junk car rally and then slowly evolved into what it is today.
With the tourism industry always fragile, there has to be continuous innovation to keep the interest in a place alive. Carnival is one of the few festivals that can be channelised to increase tourism footfalls in the State. If the 2017 festival goes by without making the most of the opportunity, then it’s an entire year before another one will come by and present a similar opportunity.
