Karan Sehgal
There was a time not so far back when Calangute and Candolim were known for niche restaurants offering Goan and continental food and that too at affordable prices. Those were the days, which actually built the reputation of Goa as an affordable destination, which attracted tourists from all over the world.
In the present time, Calangute has a number of restaurants serving poorly cooked junk food and that too at sky high prices. A number of food-carts have cropped up on the beach-belt of Baga to Sinquerim and also in Saligao, Arpora and Porvorim serving food of questionable quality.
All sorts of hawkers are operating unchecked on the beaches. Obviously then, supply of such establishments has grown only to meet demand of mass tourists. The real concern for Goa is the number of mass tourists will grow to such an extent that it will entirely drive away better quality tourists.
Ralph de Sousa, Chairman, de Souza Group, said, “We have to do away with all the illegal businesses in the beach-belt. There are lots of people selling tea in paper cups on the beaches or selling vada-pao and they have no permissions of any sort from the government. Such activities must stop.” He continued, “A number of tourists come to Goa, sit by the road-side, cook food and eat. This can’t be allowed, as such tourists put enormous pressure on the infrastructure of the state without contributing anything to the economy.”
A number of other stakeholders agreed with de Sousa and said that government departments like Tourism Department, Foods and Drugs Administration (FDA), Goa Police, Electricity Department, Water Department must conduct periodic raids on such illegal activities happening in the beach-belt, which only attract mass tourists.
Cruz Carodoso, president, All Goa Shack Owners Welfare Society, said, “If foreign tourists are on sunbeds, at times, mass tourists ogle at them. Some tourists take vehicles on the beach. The Tourist Force is not taking any action against wrongdoers. On Calangute and Candolim beaches, everyone asks for drugs. The police force will have to take action against drug peddlers and people involved in prostitution.”
The truth of the matter is that prominent parts of North Goa like Baga, Calangute and Candolim are
showing what can happen if you take the concept of free market to an extreme. Anyone can start a hotel or a restaurant or a food-cart, which is actually fine. But, no matter who starts a business, he or she has to follow the laws of land, which have to be in such a manner that they promote good tourism.
Savio Messias, president, Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), said, “There are a number of properties owned by Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC). If they put a condition in the tender that the operator of restaurant inside the property has to offer Goan food, then it will help in promoting local culture and also in discouraging mass tourism. However, if a private individual is offering his plot to a restaurant, he can offer to anyone.”
Messias hit the nail on the head, as legally speaking there is not much one can do to regulate what kind of new businesses, restaurants and hotels are coming up in Goa. People are free to offer their property to businessmen, who want to build hotels to attract only mass tourists. There is no cap on the number of new hotels coming up every year in the beach-belt. In the absence of such a regulation, almost everyone who has a house there starts selling rooms for tourists to stay in.
A source, on the condition of anonymity, said, “There has to be an assessment of how many tourists we can take in the beach-belt. Once that assessment is done, the number of new hotels and properties should be in accordance to that number. Moreover, strict action should be taken against people operating unregistered properties everywhere in Goa.”
Interestingly enough, while there is a cap on the number of beach shacks, there is no such limit on the number of hotels in the state. In the absence of that, people start all sorts of small hotels and dormitories primarily aimed at mass tourists.
Growth in mass tourists has clearly had an impact on good tourists coming to the state. A number of high income Indian tourists now prefer to go elsewhere for their vacations. de Sousa said, “At all my hotels, the number of better tourists is becoming lesser by the day.”
It’s a fact that Goa is losing its charm as a quaint and scenic holiday destination primarily due to unchecked growth in mass tourists. But, stakeholders also opined that we need to be careful while addressing who is actually a mass tourist. Shivam Verma, general manager, Royal Orchid Beach Resort & Spa, said, “Mass tourists, per se, are not a problem. It needs to be seen which category they belong to. If it’s a case of mass booking by a large group in a decent hotel, then it’s fine. But, if it is those tourists who come with their own cylinder and stove and start cooking by the roadside, then, it’s a problem, which needs to be addressed.”
The most basic thing the government departments can do is start a crack-down on all sorts of illegal businesses happening in the beach-belt, which itself will drive away a lot of people catering only to the needs of mass tourists.
After that, the tourism stakeholders and the government will have to sit together to really draw strategies to encourage good quality tourists and discourage mass tourists.
