PANJIM: The writing on the wall is getting clearer for female tourists visiting Goa with incidents of rapes and other sexual assaults. And the writing says: “Come at your own risk”.
With the Tourist Police Force proposal lying in cold storage, the safety of tourists, especially foreign nationals in Goa, has always been a cause for concern, as horrific incidents such as rapes continue to bring a bad name to the coastal State.
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The Tourism Helpline No. 1364 in place is of no help at all if it does exist. These horrific incidents continue to reveal the dark side of tourism in the coastal State.
“The way the case is progressing, I feel my daughter will never get justice,” complained Andrea Brannigan, the mother of 28-year-old Danielle McLaughlin, who was hit with a bottle before being raped and murdered in Canacona in 2017. Danielle was holidaying in the State as her body was found at a secluded spot in Canacona, which is popular among holidaymakers.
The other unsavoury incidents include the assault on a Japanese tourist in December 2022, the molestation and stabbing of a Dutch tourist by a resort staff and the recent rape of a tourist by a Gujarat native in a resort in Assonora after befriending her on a flight to Goa.
Following the molestation and stabbing of the Dutch tourist, the police issued an order to all home-stay businesses in the State to follow the registration rules and have CCTV cameras in their premises working, but all in vain.
In the Assonora resort incident, the Colvale Police arrested Laxman Shiyar (47) and stated that on August 23, the accused befriended a woman on a flight and got her to share her mobile number, and under the pretext of showing her all the amenities available at the resort, he raped her.
This is the second incident reported this year of tourists being sexually assaulted inside a resort.
The footfall of foreign tourists in Goa has reduced to only 10 percent.
It may be recalled that the Government of Goa had formed the Tourism Security Force in Goa in 2010. The tourist arrivals then were little over 2.7 million. However, ironically, with the State reaching nine million tourist arrivals in recent years, the Force stands disbanded.
The Goa Tourism Department’s Tourist Police Force proposal was submitted four months ago. The proposal was placed twice before the Goa Tourism Board headed by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and had received a green signal, but for some unknown reasons the same lies in cold storage.
Serafino Cota of the Small and Medium Hoteliers Association said, “It may sound strange to mention this in the above context, but 87 per cent of tourists coming to Goa are low quality tourists. Goa is lagging behind to issue a stern warning to the tourists who tend to commit crimes. Some MLAs are saying that Traffic Police are stopping tourists. Why shouldn’t the police stop them? Is Goa the only place where tourists can do anything and get away? We are losing family tourism because of the failure to set a deterrent and instil fear among tourists in Goa that they won’t be spared for committing wrongdoings.”
Lorna Fernandes, Convenor of Goa Women’s Forum, said, “Goa is definitely turning into a destination which is vulnerable to these kinds of activities where women tourists become victims to well-planned operations. There is an urgent need for the Tourism Department to issue a Special Advisory for all single women-domestic and foreign tourists -visiting Goa to be alert to these kinds of traps, and the required WhatsApp No., email-ID, helplines of the concerned police authorities to receive complaints should be provided to them. This special advisory is therefore urgently required to be put on their website and widely circulated through their social media handles, keeping in mind the World Tourism Day which will be observed on September 27.”
