The drowning of five tourists at the Calangute beach in the early morning hours of Monday morning highlights the urgent need for an image makeover of Goa as a tourism destination.
The tourists have not been killed by the waters of Goa, but have fallen prey to the perception that Goa is a land of indiscretion, vices and indulgence where ‘anything’ goes.
The deaths are unfortunate and completely avoidable with even a little bit of discretion on the part of the tourists as well as concerted efforts from the government to drive home the point that having fun does not absolve anyone of the responsibility of their actions.
While there have been calls for bans on drinking in public, on the beaches that will be only part of the solution.
The urgent need of the hour is for the government and its agencies to, along with spending funds for promoting tourism, also spending a similar amount of funds to ensure that tourists know that they are putting theirs and others lives at risk with their irresponsible actions.
The recent newspaper pages are replete with reports of tourist misbehaviour be in with other women tourists, local women or with the very environment that they are enjoying.
Such misbehaviour needs to be nipped in the bud and urgently through strict exemplary action against tourists who misbehave even before their misbehaviour turns criminal.
The fears expressed by tourism stakeholders that such warnings would discourage tourists from coming here are unfounded. On the contrary, they will encourage the tourists to come to Goa with the assurance that those who ruin the environment for everyone else will be strictly dealt with.
Even today, women tourists fear to venture out alone or even in groups along the beaches for fear that packs of unruly men will not only give them the gaze but often get uncomfortably close. It is similar behaviour that emboldens men to venture into the sea often inebriated, throwing discretion to the waves.
Such a job cannot be left to lifeguards alone, whose primary job is to rescue. The lifeguards need the backing of authorities who can enforce be it from the local village panchayat, the tourism department or the police.
In the absence of this, smaller violations like that of violating someone else’s privacy or a retort to a lifeguard can snowball into either a major crime or drowning deaths.
The government cannot choose to abdicate its responsibility in this regard by asking tourists to behave themselves or to know their own responsibilities or for women to protect themselves claiming that the state cannot be everywhere all the time.
That needs to stop.
