PANJIM: The attack on a Dutch tourist at the resort in Pernem has re-ignited the debate on whether the Goa is safe for its visitors from abroad.
Tourism stakeholders from Goa who advocate quality and ethical tourism have expressed anguish and despair over the dangerous trend of tourism that has been cultivated in North Goa.
The statistics of the last five years show a trend of declining foreign tourists in Goa. In the Economic Survey 2022-23, it has been stated that the number of domestic tourists coming to the State is 70.1 lakh. However, the number of foreign tourists is hardly 1.69 lakh. Even this figure is a jump from 2021 due to the post-Covid resurgence in tourism, which saw a slight spike in foreign tourists.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2018 and 2019, the State saw 80.1 lakh tourists and 80.6 lakh tourists respectively. The number of foreign tourists arriving in 2018 was 9.33 lakh and 9.37 lakhs in 2019, before dipping again due to COVID
As a result the State has witnessed a metamorphosis in the way in which tourism is being operated. Now, the tourism in the state is domestic tourists centric as the number of foreign tourists has reduced to a minuscule number.
The attack on the Dutch tourist is just one of the many incidents of attacks on tourists that have been recorded in 2022-23 in Goa. A Japanese tourist was attacked in Anjuna which snowballed into a major police case which resulted in several arrests. The attack of the Delhi tourist at a resort in Anjuna forced the government of Goa to take measures in keeping crimes against tourists at bay. It was followed by an attack on Mumbai tourists which was out of a simple road rage incident. Two Morjim hotel staff, natives of Jharkhand and Assam, were arrested by police for attempting to rob a Russian tourist on March 24, 2023.
A senior hotelier and an office bearer of the Small and Medium Hoteliers of Goa (SMHAG) Serafino Cota said, “Goa is not deciding what tourists we are looking for in the tourism business. The type of client coming to Goa is also not shy of asking for unauthorised favours. Hence, to handle those kinds of tourists, hoteliers are hiring similar kind of staff. As a result there are conflicts.”
“The hotels are expected to train their staff to stand back when incidents of intimidation occur. However, exactly the opposite is happening in the incidents that have come to light,” he said.
Santosh Divkar, President of the SMHAG said, “In Goa, the quality tourism industry which was cultivated with the homely hospitality and helping nature of Goans is diminishing. Today a major share of tourism is controlled by non-Goans. They bring in non-Goan staff and they don't care about the beating that the image of Goa tourism is taking due to the behaviour of work force,” he said.
The North Goa Superintendent of Police (SP) Nidhin Valsan said, “The accused arrested in the Dutch tourist assault case had no antecedents. However, it is expected that the owners provide the details of the staff they employ which is a proven deterrent to such incidents,” he said.