In the long history of opposition, the fight against helicopter tourism, as some choose to call it, will go down as the two-day agitation. The government puts its hand up without a fight and the opposing team comprising Calangute MLA Michael Lobo and former MLA Agnel Fernandes (it is difficult to tell which of these two is the captain of the team) claimed victory. Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, who did not assign any reason for taking the wind out of this new form of entertainment, tersely said new locations would have to be found.
It is difficult, at this stage, to say if the Lobo-Agnel team’s argument that the landing area is a heritage site and populated with fauna which would have bolted for cover at the sound of a chopper engine and the blast of wind, has merit. But they had the numbers and in a democratic state, which is one year away from elections, numbers are a good enough reason to cave in.
The government is already battling a language agitation with the Chief Minister pleading with the warring factions to bury the hatchet at least till the elections are over. The last thing he wanted was to open another front with an anti-helicopter group. No general or politician has won a war fighting on two fronts and in that sense, Parsekar’s decision to douse the fire before it turned into a conflagration seems like the politically correct thing to do, even if it meant upsetting the GTDC chairperson Nilesh Cabral who is of the opinion that Goa has to do something to draw more high-end tourists as against the ‘chhadi-banian' variety.
Goa, has traditionally, focused on numbers and construction of the Mopa airport, is aimed at bringing in more tourists, irrespective of quality. Governments have traditionally flaunted increased numbers to show that tourism is growing without bothering to do a cost-benefit study which would take into consideration the limited infrastructure, the money spent build it and the pressure these numbers put on water and power supply.
In a way, a helicopter ride is just another form of entertainment like ski-jets or banana boat rides. It is difficult to ascertain if heli-tourism will bring in more upmarket tourists but the fact that each tourist has to shell out over Rs 3,000 for a 10-minute flight, shows that there are in fact a lot of very rich tourists who visit the state. But then we know that by the number of tourists making bee-line to casinos.
Helicopter tourism will provide tourists another thrill and the state must do everything to add more value to the holiday experience in the State. It needs to explore more avenues for keeping tourists rooted in Goa for a longer time, but the real issue facing the State is how to move towards the high-end and gradually squeeze out the lower end, which is a drag on infrastructure and pulls down the image of the state to the level of a place for trinkets and cheap hats.
Another challenge facing the government is how to make Goa less exploitative and more friendly. The ‘great hospitality’ tag is no longer a defining character and almost every tourism destination has taught its ambassadors how to say, ‘have a nice day’. There is a lot that Goa has to do before it can move towards the high-end side of the tourism spectrum and those who thought a helicopter could add value will have to wait a little bit longer.
