Tourism policy
Participative approach a must
YATISH A NAIK
The way forward for tourism in Goa is obviously through an eco-friendly and sustainable policy. There must be an effort to promote cultural tourism and also heritage tourism. While the government seems to want to promote heritage tourism, converting forts into hotels is not the ideal way to do so. Goa had been ruled and governed by various dynasties. It has a rich history which needs to be exhibited for which we need a separate heritage master plan in place. The Government must apply its mind on recreating historical sites and places that have the potential to unfurl a visionary direction for tourism.
The administration must realize that not every tract of the fragile eco system needs to be exposed to human interference in the name of eco tourism. There must be a serious and structured dialogue between the tourism department, Goa Tourism Development Corporation, forest department, Goa Forest Development Corporation, the biodiversity board and the State wildlife board to explore the development of hiking, rock climbing, trekking and allied adventures.
Cultural tourism can be advanced by promoting real Goan culture and folklore like Bonderam in Divar, Tripuri Pornima at Vithalapur, traditional Carnival and Shigmo festivals in various villages.
A confidence building process must be started in terms of visa regulations which need an urgent revision. The stricter visa regimes which have lowered tourist arrivals must be reviewed. Though the government is talking of visas on arrival, the same must take off effectively as it will certainly give a fillip to international arrivals. There must be emphasis on clean, optimum and sustainable tourism, with the goal of projecting Goa as a perfect family destination.
We therefore need a tourism master plan with a holistic vision and integrated approach and not the ones which change with change in governments. The tourism master plan must contain and envisage a long-term consolidated policy. Such a policy must be finalized in a participative and merit-driven method and not as a result of bureaucracy and political cronies at work. It must involve the travel and tourism association, taxi operators, travel agents, shack operators, and all such stakeholders. It must lay the method and strategy of tapping and targeting the right markets and the right numbers. It is essential to assimilate and encapsulate a Goa-centric tourism model in the master plan.
Tourism in Goa suffers on several fronts. The absence of a good public transport facility, good roads, pedestrian friendly footpaths, proper traffic enforcement, uninterrupted power, among other things, are certainly regressive for a tourism driven economy. Incentivizing and encouraging water harvesting and renewable sources of energy can help strengthen the regime of carbon credits for tourism infrastructure like hotels and resorts. Clean beaches, free of touts, friendly policing and a good shack policy would help redeem Goa’s status as the foremost tourism destination.
It is a pity that the government has failed to implement the buffer zone around the world heritage site at Old Goa as mandated by law. This is not only shocking, but displays the indifference of the authorities in protecting, preserving and conserving our heritage. So many of us protested the government’s hollow participative planning approach in the preparation of the Regional Plan 2021. Though the law mandates that 100 meters around the protected monument should be maintained as a prohibited area, and beyond 200 meters as regulated area, this was not mapped in RP2021. Even though well-known town planner Edgar Ribeiro brought this to the notice of the Chief Town Planner, no affirmative action has been taken in this matter. The tourism department is duty bound to ensure that the town and country planning department does a careful mapping of the prohibited and restricted zones around the world heritage site.
For various reasons, the image of the State has indeed taken a beating. But a proactive, sensitive, rational, participative, well-thought out visionary approach by the government, adhering to the concept of consensus building, would help restore the State’s lost glory.
As early as 1988, he Pastoral Bulletin of the Archdiocese of Goa, Renovação, had cautioned against pitfalls of unregulated tourism. The August 15, 1988 edition of the bulletin had published a study and research document on the implications of tourism. If the government had taken note of it, I am sure some corrective action, as suggested in that study, would have augured well for the State. The study is relevant even today and I hope the government of the day will look into it.
Goa today bears the brunt of political neglect, policy paralysis and misdirected priorities on the tourism front. A holistic, integrated, comprehensive and long-term tourism policy is long overdue. It is also equally vital that consensus and merit are accorded due respect in the process of drawing one up, while narrow political considerations and bureaucratic hurdles are shunned.
(Concluded)
Extracts from a paper presented at a workshop on ‘Tourism and its impact on Goa’ earlier this month. The writer is a lawyer and activist
