the goan I network
MAPUSA
Lamenting that Goa has been attracting “cheap” tourists, Deputy Speaker and Calangute MLA Michael Lobo on Wednesday said the State government would have to brainstorm and devise ways to bring quality tourists in the State.
“What type of tourism are we promoting today? Cheap tourists with beer bottles in hands have flooded our beaches. These tourists drink and leave broken bottles on the beaches and the roadsides,” Lobo said, while addressing a new conference in his office.
Lobo said Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s promise to bring an administrative order to curb drinking on beaches has still not seen the light of the day.
“We need to bring in reforms in the tourism sector, if not, tourism in Goa will die a slow death,” he said.
The coastal MLA disclosed that while several broken bottles were found strewn on the beaches right from Baga to Sinquerim, some tourists were found cooking with a gas cylinder in a parking lot over the past couple of days.
He said some of the male tourists go into the sea with undwear and after coming out of the water roam with their undwear in the parking lot and sometimes even on roads.
“Police are helpless as they cannot take action on tourists without getting any specific orders from authorities concerned,” Lobo said.
Lobo said the chief minister and the tourism minister along with other stakeholders of tourism needed to do an introspection and find ways to overhaul the tourism sector in the State.
“We need to bring good tourists to Goa. For that, adequate rules and regulations have to be put in place so that order is restored on roads and beaches,” he said.
The Calangute MLA also suggested that central government should reduce the GST on the tourism sector.
