PANJIM: The Centre for Responsible Tourism (CRT), on Monday stated that Goa will be hosting the international BRICS Summit next month, but tourism in Goa still remains undeveloped.
Addressing a discussion on ‘Corporatization of Tourism Spaces, Asserting People’s Charter for Tourism’, CRT President Fr Maverick Fernandes said that it is unfortunate that profit has taken over tourism and thus destroyed Goa in a big way. People have given up traditional occupations and it is corporates who are benefiting from tourism, he said and called upon the people to fight back.
“The interim tourism master plan will annihilate the people of Goa because the agency which prepared it is not in touch with the realities of the people at the grassroots,” Fernandes said.
He said that a consulting firm from Spain was appointed at an exorbitant fee and asked to complete the job, but very little is known about their method of working and it was clear that there was little or nothing by way of people’s participation.
The final outcome, Fernandes said, as seen in the policy is clearly inconsistent with the potential of Goa as a tourism destination. Moreover, the plan would marginalise the small and medium sectors, the informal sector and diminish workers’ standards in favour of the corporate, which would then assume total control over the coasts and hinterland.
Fernandes said the attempt to whitewash what was a slapdash attempt to force policy was exposed when the government invited the people to express their views on the plan at public hearings.
