With the closure of mining in Goa by the Supreme Court, the Goan economy is now primarily dependent on tourism. Each year the number of tourists visiting Goa is reportedly increasing, regretfully the quality of tourists with higher spending capacities is simultaneously decreasing. Understanding the economics of Tourism as a topic of study in the Goan context is certainly not as complicated as it is made out to be. Recently all newspaper reports have highlighted several crores of rupees that have been spent for jaunts to international locales by the politicians and officials in control of the Tourism sector.
In the decade gone by, the Tourism trade in the country and also in Goa has grown by leaps and bounds .To cash in on this boom, some of the major Hospitality chains and hospitals involving Health care Tourism have made a beeline for the Goan shores. The room inventories have been beefed up to cater to the surge in Tourist traffic, however, the infrastructure to support the amenities to be provided to these high paying tourists is not commensurate with the growth in rooms. In a bid to stand out in the competition, the hotels are offering visually appealing amenities such as fancy water features – viz ornamental fountains, jacuzzis, lagoons, splash pools in guest rooms, meandering swimming pools and water bodies amidst rock gardens. Whilst these facilities are provided with a view to “Delight and yet waylay the Guest”, these water features are never maintained with adequate treatment to prevent contamination. The water bodies with the 5-star hotels have revealed that they are contaminated with dirt, slime, moss, toxin producing algal growth and enteric pathogenic bacteria, viruses often involved in hepatitis and organ invasive species, fungi involving skin infections, all typically owing to inadequate water treatment and erratic cleaning schedules.
How many Goans are actually aware that Goa today is considered as an “Unsafe and keep away”, destination for luxury and high spending tourists.
Let alone hundreds of visitors going back from their visit and soon coming down with malaria dengue, enteric infections, allergies of all types and Legionnaires Disease, soon after the contacting the diseases and completing the incubation period of the diseases.
The “Value for Money” proposition, hitherto the Unique Selling Proposition of Goa, is getting decimated owing to several reasons, one of the important issues being the deterioration of Water Hygiene and consequent onset of travel related disease. The impact of leachates emanating from untreated garbage near luxury hotels and is like adding salt to injury to our Tourism woes. People of Goa are totally oblivious of the fact that Legionnaires Disease is one of the key factors responsible for the destruction of tourism in Goa.
As per reports, Legionnaires Disease, a deadly form of Pneumonia, has been on the rise in starred hotels in Goa. In the past few years, the number of tourists being affected has been steadily growing. In 2018-19 there were 7 cases reported of tourists in Goa contracting Legionnaires Disease. This disease is a bacterial infection of the lungs that develops into deadly pneumonia. Most people become infected by breathing in small droplets of contaminated water suspended in air. Symptoms include ‘flu-like’ illness with muscle-ache, headache, dry cough, shortness of breath and fever. Sometimes diarrhoea occurs and confusion may develop in the mind of the patient.
The National Travel Health Network & Centre (NaTHNaC) has updated their Travel Health Pro website with a news item relating to Legionnaires’ disease cases in Goa, and can also be accessed on the public domain on the Internet by clicking the following link – https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/news/391/trav….
Some of these affected tourists have claimed high damages to the tune of Rs70 lakh individually, alleging violation of “Standard of Care” and “Deficiency of Service” by the hotels.
Ironically, while Rs 20 crore was reportedly spent by the Tourism ministry over jaunts and entertainment for the ministers and bureaucrats in the tourism sector, precious nothing has been spent on improving the infrastructure.
Today Goa in general and Panjim in particular is sitting on a “garbage bomb”. Our River Mandovi is totally polluted with high levels of organic compounds, sewage discharges, heavy metals, etc. If we minutely subject our local catch to quality assurance tests on stringent basis we must not be surprised to detect heavy metals, detergents, pesticides, oils and pathogenic bacteria. The River Mandovi is so terribly contaminated that given an opportunity the marine fauna would prefer to make their presence felt on the flooded streets of the drowning Panjim city during the monsoons as witnessed a few days ago in the flooded streets of Panjim. If we as individuals find it suffocating and uneasy to walk about in the capital city, what about the miserable fate of the visiting tourists?
There have been several mass cancellations of charters as a result and consequent black listing of specific hotels by globally reputed Charter Companies. This bad publicity does not augur well for the tourism in Goa which is already reeling from the pressure of competition from the likes of Kerala, Lanka and all competitive South East Asian countries. This is a wake-up call for the concerned authorities in the Tourism Sector to get their act together or lose the proverbial goose that lays golden eggs. Wake up Goa before it is too late.
(The writer is an environmental activist)
