If there are still hopes that of Goa’s tourism will leapfrog into a zone of newhighs, the new shack policy does those hopes very little good because it hitsat Goa’s best known and moist effective tourism ambassador “ the shack owner.Unlike their partners in trade the taxi drivers, the shack owners of Goa arethe first real interface with the tourist after he gets out of the airport orstation and engages with his most longed for experience “ the sea. And over theyears, the relationship between shack owners, workers and tourists have grownwith these bonds lasting for years.
The relationships have in many cases taken 360 degree turnswith many shack owners have actually moved abroad with their favorite guestsusually of the opposite gender. This is not trivial. It epitomises theimportance of keeping the shack owners and their associates free to do theirbusiness within norms in lieu of the tremendous service they do for the stateand accrue goodwill.
However, the excesses of tourism have driven home the needfor regulation. The rampant proliferation of shacks and their paraphernalia,the non-existent garbage and sewage management, the lack of hygiene and theoverall encroachment on the beaches are issues that need immediate and toughsolutions. Yet, the baby can’t be thrownout with the bath water. The excesses of tourism are felt mainly in the hypertourist centric beaches of Baga, Calangute, Candolim in the North and Colva inthe south. There is a middle tier which extends to the Morjim and beyond in theNorth and Utorda, Benaulim ,Varca and Palolem in the South and the third thinnest layer of all other beaches. Thetourism policy needed to have defined three tiers and made tier specificrestrict ions on the number of beach beds, the installation of CCTV camerasetc.
The decision to make installing CCTV cameras in every shackcould prove counter-productive. Internationally, this is done discreetly bytourism authorities without involving those who run beach side restaurants.Also there needs to be a clear assurance that footage form cameras, especiallyof women, will not be misused. As a trail project, it could have been used inthe hyper tourist beaches with precautions, in the first phase.
Similarly the beach beds could have been limited to 5, 10and 15 with the least in the crowded beaches and the most in the third thintier. Often the best policies are those that are presented well. A little bitof tweaking and a symbolic arm around the shack owner to tell him that Goa’sneeds him for its tourism will unshackle the bind of apprehension that shackowners now have.
