TOURISM IN GOA
Mass tourism in Goa did not arise overnight; it was a slow process that begun with the arrival of the hippies in the sixties. Goa was a hippy paradise; the locals were friendly, the dope was cheap and the beaches were beautiful.
Apart from bewildering the locals with their strange
looks and behaviour, the hippies' impact in Goa was minimal.
They were more or less able to adapt to the local way of life, eating
local food and living in simple accommodation. They provided extra income
to local communities and often made long-lasting friendships with local
people.
It wasn't until the mid-eighties and the arrival of charter flights to Goa that changes really began to take place. The charter flights brought a new breed of tourist who had money and demanded western amenities. This quickly caught the attention of foreign investors and tour companies, who wasted no time in building hotels, swimming pools and even golf courses to meet the tourists' growing expectations and demands. The government, slightly fed up with hippies, celebrated the arrival of the high-spending tourists and the foreign exchange they would bring.
However, very little profit reached the local people. The majority of the money spent by package tourists goes to foreign hotel owners or the European tour companies who arrange the holidays. When the locals do succeed in profiting from tourism, it is normally privileged commercial groups that benefit, not the people who have to suffer the negative consequences.
Accustomed to high standards of living in the West, tourists rarely consider the ecological price of their comforts. Swimming pools and golf courses use a huge amount of water, a resource that is very limited, especially during the dry season in April and May. While tourists swim in pools, locals often have to put up with water shortages and live in danger of the water table dropping, which could have fatal consequences on Goan agriculture. Besides water, hotels consume vast amounts of building materials and electricity, and create a lot of waste.
Litter has become a major problem in Goa and there
is no infrastructure to deal with it. It ends up in piles, either left
to rot or to be burnt. One of the biggest problems is the use of plastic
bottles used for mineral water. Most tourists drink several bottles
a day
and discard them, left for somebody else to deal with. More often than
not they are burnt, adding toxic fumes into the atmosphere.
Discontentment from locals, rising inequality and poverty is beginning to take its toll. Levels of crime and theft are rising, as is greed and corruption. Behind the smiles of local people, a sense of uneasiness is creeping in as the state becomes more corrupt. The police force and tourism department are becoming feared by everyone working in the tourist industry; bribes are often paid simply to stay out of trouble, whether there is any reason to be in trouble or not.
Since only a small proportion of the tourists's money normally makes its way to the locals, there can be fierce competition to reap the benefits. In many areas of Goa, tourists have come to be regarded simply as a source of economic gain, a commercial relationship based on making money, not authentic friendship. Some writers have associated this commercialisation of human relationships with the disruption of personal relations, weakening the ability of the host society to co-operate with one another in day to day life.
A major concern in Goa is the effect of western youth culture on the youth in Goa. A growing number of young Goans are taking drugs, going to trance parties (raves) and losing interest in their own culture and society. Their way of life and culture is being abandoned and destroyed, likely to be replaced by a holiday culture that can found in parts of Ibiza, Greece or Spain, but without the infrastructure or resources to sustain such growth for much longer.
Perhaps what is needed in Goa is support for small-scale community based tourism in which profits are shared and genuine friendships are made. Wherever possible, tourism should be used as a way of conserving the environment, educating both hosts and guests about the sustainable use of resources and contributing funds towards sustainable development.
With the Mandrekar Family we provide the chance to live with a local family, experience Goan life and learn music, art and cooking. It is a place to recharge and experience the rich Goan culture in its simple context. We have tried a number of ways to involve more of the community, but this is no easy task, so we have kept the project small and cosy, we grow bananas, eat well and play music after supper.
There are a number of locally run organisations campaigning against mass tourism and its associated problems. The Goa Foundation, based in Mapusa, is doing some excellent social and environmental work.
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