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'Goa should bid goodbye to mass tourism'

  •   Thu, Apr 03 2014 11:39:46 AM

Panaji, April 3 (IANS): It's time for Goa to bid goodbye to mass tourism and focus on specific sectors, a top official has said.

Francis Braganza who heads the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), was speaking at the inauguration of the Goa International Travel Mart (GITM) in Panaji Wednesday evening that was attended by hundreds of foreign and Indian delegates.

"There is no point in pursuing mass tourism. The golden age of mass tourism is over," Braganza said.

His comments come at a time when Goa clocked nearly three million arrivals in 2013 and Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar wants the number to increase to five million over the next few years.

Mass tourism has resulted in significant pressure on the state's inadequate infrastructure, resulting in chaos during the peak season.

Innovative leisure and business tourism was the future for Goa, Braganza said, adding that Goa should focus on tourism oriented to eco-sensitive areas, medicine, wellness and sports.

Braganza also said the state would have to say goodbye to tourism geared to cater to hippies, who back in the 1960s and 970s put the state on the international tourism map.

Hundreds of buyers from nearly 30 countries including the US, Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Turkey, Italy, the Czech Republic and Russia are expected to participate in the GITM.
  

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Comment on this article

  • Benny, Anjuna

    Fri, Apr 04 2014

    I should perhaps correct my statement to say " Livelihood to SOME Goans "
    However, I speak for thousands of households that have guest houses, petty shops, shacks. boats and small businesses throughout goan beach fronts.Perhaps you have not travelled enough through Goa to see how these people desperately wait for the tourist season to begin. These are not the privileged class like NRI who can boast and say we are well fed. Dude, do you know how many taxi drivers of Goa just depend on tourists ? There is nothing wrong to admit our economy depends on tourists and like it or not , it is true. What we should be ashamed of is the fact that we Goans have sold our lands to outsiders for peanuts , sold our soul to the devil on the political front. When communal forces soon make a back door entry to our schools and teach our children demon worship in the guise of yoga , then you will know what we should be really ashamed of.

    DisAgree Agree [6] Reply Report Abuse

  • Antonio D'Silva, Kuwait

    Thu, Apr 03 2014

    At least there is someone in the TTAG in the form of Francis Braganza, who is aware that Goa does not have the infrastructure to support tourism let alone mass tourism.

    The only beneficiaries of tourism in Goa are the Non-goans who have invested their black money into five star hotels and the peripheral services and a few goans on the coastal belts who have modified their homes to sell rooms to these tourists and in the process have directed their sewage pipes into their neighbors gardens without blinking an eye.

    If Goans are sane enough then the recent rampage by Nigerians should be an eye opener to the threats of drugs, human trafficking, murders, and other unseen crimes that the tiny peace loving state has been subjected to by the influx of mass tourists.

    Benny, Anjuna, to say that tourists provide the daily bread to goans is a grave insult to our Goan seafaring forefathers, the large segment of Goan NRIs and others who toil endlessly to ensure their families are well fed and looked after without the need to rely on tourism.

    Additionally, tourism in Goa has only succeeded in creating enormous sufferings for ordinary Goans in the form of unjustified and unrealistic inflation in costs for essential food commodities, energy, and transport, while creating shortages in availability to the ordinary Goan of quality fish and food, water and other essentials.

    The mass tourism has also brought unwanted elements into the state who are a threat to the very salient Goan culture which is the very reason why many of the foreign tourists visit Goa.

    DisAgree [6] Agree [2] Reply Report Abuse

  • Benny, Anjuna

    Thu, Apr 03 2014

    The pipe dreams will take centuries to materialise in a state which cannot handle even its own garbage collection. Good bye to mass tourism in the meantime will mean good bye to peoples daily bread.

    DisAgree [1] Agree [5] Reply Report Abuse


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