From a rising star on the International Tourism map, to where we are today – virtually on the verge of losing the international tag and reduce to an overcrowded holiday destination for domestic tourists, it has been quite a free fall for Goa! So where did we falter and lose our way?
In the beginning there was only paradise: miles and miles of glistering sandy beaches caressed by the azure blue waters of the Arabian Sea on one side and bounded by the majestic & mighty Western Ghats on the other. The land in-between held within its wide embrace rolling hills, verdant valleys, meandering rivers, meadows, waterfalls, springs, salt pans, mangroves, lush green fields and pristine coconut groves. The inhabitants were simple, warm and friendly, fun loving folks at peace with themselves and the environment. The only foreigners they had interacted with were the Portuguese ‘Pakles’ and ‘Tourist’ was not even a word that the common man here understood well!
The people were a ‘sussegad’ lot (not to be misconstrued as lazy), the term itself derived from the Portuguese word ‘Sossegado’ which means a state of tranquil contentment, peace and harmony. Afternoon siestas and ‘Festas’ contributed to a unique lifestyle alien to the mainlanders. It is in this ocean of peace and tranquility that the Hippies set foot in the early 1970s and found what they were looking for: a place where they could find nirvana of mind, body and soul. Their life style blended harmoniously with that of the coastal villages of those times. It was as if Adam and Eve had regained Paradise all over again! Wild night parties and scantily clad/nude sun lovers roaming around became a normal part of the local beach scene.
The local community kept a decent distance and never poked their noses in the affairs of these early backpackers who usually came driving over land all the way from Europe in Camper vans, except to provide them with accommodation, food and other services – a new form of economy had come into being! The government of the day also did not mind because there was money in the making for everyone. Not that anybody wanted the Hippie culture to continue, but to cut a long story short, it was the Hippies who introduced Goa to the world through the best form of advertisement – the word of mouth publicity! Soon enough, the mainstream international tourist started coming only to fall in love with the tranquil laid back atmosphere and the vibe of the place. The flow of international tourists was rapidly growing bigger with guests returning back every year with friends and relatives in tow. Goa was right on course to take its rightful place amongst the top most International Tourist destination in the world! All that the Govt needed to do was take care of law and order, keep Goa clean and green and provide infrastructure and facilities to support tourism.
At the turn of the century, in the year 2000, out of the total 12,68,513 tourists who holidayed in Goa, as much as 2,91,709 or 23% were high spending foreign tourists – mostly German and English. Ten years later, in 2010, the percentage of foreign tourists dropped to 16%. Last year, out of the total 77,85,693 tourists who visited Goa, only about 11% were foreigners and that too mostly the riff raff from Russia – from Russians who wouldn’t hesitate to bargain at a branded store to Russians who came to the beach shacks with fresh fish requesting the staff to clean and cook it for them! This year, if insiders are to be believed, the foreign tourist arrivals in Goa might be less than what Goa received five years ago. The Domestic Indian tourists however are coming in droves, their number ( 68,95,234 in 2017) has almost tripled over the last five years.
As everywhere else in the country, our politicians can seldom see beyond the next election. The Government of Goa or the Tourism Ministers over the years have never truly tried to understand the USP of Goa and align the tourism policies accordingly. And as if having a Tourism Minister who does not know the ABC of tourism is not enough, we have the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) whose office bearers (from the chairman to the Directors) are all political appointees. If an MLA cannot be made a Minister, he/she is accommodated as the chairman of the GTDC as if developing Tourism is as easy as eating ‘sorpotel’ with ‘sannas’. These Government authorities have splurged hundreds of crores of public money to promote Goa at International Tourism Marts abroad but failed to put things in order at home. The rapes and murders of tourists, the mounting garbage and environment issues, lack of basic tourist facilities, the ‘desi’ tourists intrusion into the privacy of sunbathing foreigners, have all given a bad name to Paradise.
Our most complaining guests are often our greatest source of learning: when the Germans stopped coming and the English were coming in lesser numbers we never tried to know the reasons behind it but instead we preferred to woo the Russians. The Russians are a fickle lot who will go wherever they get a cheaper deal – if they opt for a cheaper destination, the State Tourism industry will be left with no foreign tourists worth a mention!
Goa is a small place, the rising tide of Domestic Tourists (besides driving away the Europeans who still prefer to be here despite everything) will make life difficult for Goans without contributing much to the economy. And if the ‘Desi’ tourists don’t get to see enough bikini clad white skin on the beaches, most of them will stop coming too!
