GOA, India — Goa has long attracted Western holidaymakers for its relaxed vibe, but rapid construction, swelling crowds and fears over safety are threatening the Indian state’s global reputation as a tranquil haven.
The former Portuguese colony is transforming from a quiet paradise popular with international hippies to a heavily-developed entertainment destination for higher-income foreign and domestic visitors who want five-star luxury, tourism officials say.
“The laid back tourist might go to other destinations because Goa is changing but now there are lots of other segments coming such as MICE tourism (meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions),” Savio Messias, president of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa, said.
“Goa is also getting to be a very big wedding destination and a lot people are now coming for entertainment,” he added.
Billboards advertising luxury developments dot Goa’s lush landscape, with Messias saying many new hotels, including big chains, are opening up every year.
Government statistics show Indian visitors soared by 34 percent to 4.7 million last year from 2014 while foreigners increased by just 5 percent as the number of charter flights plummeted.
The sluggish global economy and a slump in the value of the Russian ruble are regularly cited as factors but local businesses fear Westerners are being turned off by Goa’s rapidly altering landscape.
“Day by day the number of foreigners coming is getting less because they hear it is too crowded here now. They want peace and quiet.
“Over the past two to three years business has been very low,” Mohammed Sultan, a jewelry shop owner at Baga beach, said.
At nearby Anjuna beach, where British schoolgirl Scarlett Keeling died in 2008, sari-clad women who ply its sands selling trinkets to visitors worry that India’s reputation as a destination that is dangerous for women is having an impact.
“I think the news stories about Scarlett have made people not come. Maybe they are worried,” 39-year-old Monica Tipi said before eyeing a sale from an Indian couple.
The acquittal last month of two local men accused of drugging, sexually assaulting and then leaving 15-year-old Keeling to drown in shallow water was the culmination of a case that had highlighted Goa’s seedier side.
Britain’s government warns in its travel advice for India that British women have been sexually assaulted in Goa and says a number of its nationals die in the state every year due to drug or alcohol abuse.
Goa-based lawyer Vikram Varma, who acted for Keeling’s mother and who also represents the Russian consulate, says police have failed to investigate the deaths of several foreigners over the last decade or so.
“Crime does happen everywhere, but when the criminal justice system itself prefers to blame the victim and protect the criminals, a large number of family tourists prefer to holiday in safer environments,” he said.” — AFP
