TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Will Thursday’s ugly incident involving Nigerian nationals have any negative impact on the tourism season?
Just as the tourism season kicks off, yesterday’s acts of brutality and violence in the coastal belt of North Goa has the tourism ministry in the State worried.
It is now keeping its fingers crossed and praying that the incident will not have any bearing on the charter-cum-foreign tourist arrivals during the next three months which is the peak season.
The tourism ministry in Goa on Thursday immediately started monitoring the situation minutely and its Public Relations agency was put on the job to track on-line reactions from across the globe.
Both national and international media splashed reports of the incident that rattled the State leaving its police and State administration red faced.
Michael Lobo, both a politician and hotelier from Calangute continued to lambast the police for not controlling the situation in a manner they should have.
“This incident will surely bring a bad name to Goa and tarnish its image,” he said.
“As hotelier, I can definitely gauge what could happen in the days to come as high-end tourists do not generally tolerate such nuisance and nonsense,” he said hoping that it would not affect tourism adversely. Lobo feared that the poor handling of the incident yesterday by the Goa Police was also sending out a message that law and order and the enforcing agencies are weak and incapable of dealing with hooliganism and violence.
As for Goa tourism, if one recalls, it has been trying to recover from the adverse publicity it has got last season over the alleged Russian mafia ruling North coastal areas.
The incident that occurred yesterday involving Nigerians many claim could stir up anxiety among those intending to holiday in Goa particularly in North Goa.
The Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) however feels that there would not be any effect on tourism even though its President Francis Braganza believes that such incidents bring bad name to Goa.
“This incident is in fact an eye opener for the government to take action and clear up the mess particularly concerning the drug business and illegalities,” he said.
Yesterday’s incident was a stray one but serious and we hope the government will act against all such illegalities,” he said.
The tourism ministry on the other side however was in touch with travel agencies and tour operators who have not reported an immediate fall out after yesterday’s incidents.
“We have reasons to believe that this is just a sporadic incident and visitors to Goa, both domestic and international, have no reason to panic,” said a senior official of the tourism department.
As of today no advisories or cancellations of any sort were reported.
However visitors in the North coastal belt were cautious and preferred to stay away from Parra and neighbouring areas. Presently there is a huge rush to Goa for the long Diwali weekend and holidays.
