Two incidents reported in the news yesterday highlighted the issue with some tourists: a drunk tourist assaulted police in Calangute, and tourists created a mess at an out-of-station bus depot. Repeated drunk driving accidents involving out-of-state and rented vehicles are also a concern. Meanwhile, the tourism department is damaging sensitive ecosystems with projects like the Morjim Beach beautification, catering to such tourists. Goa's popularity is slipping. Domestic tourists complain about unaffordability, but international tourists are willing to pay premium prices. However, they're put off by overcrowding and unruly behaviour from many domestic tourists. The tourism department should focus on hiking prices for domestic tourists to maintain destinations and improve tourism quality, rather than pushing beautification projects that harm ecosystems. The state's natural beauty is its charm, but unwanted beautification projects and tourists with poor civic sense are spoiling it. Keeping places clean and managing tourist numbers would have preserved Goa's beauty better.
