Why we shouldn't be blaming the Indian tourist alone for Goa's troubles

By playing the victim card, Goans abdicate their responsibility for the self-created mess that they find themselves mired in.

Tourism in Goa has been in the news recently. A piece in a weekly conveyed Goans’ sense of outraged desperation at the behaviour of Indian tourists visiting Goa. Vijai Sardesai, the minister for town and country planning, was quoted calling a section of tourists’ ‘scum of the earth’.

The annual number of tourists visiting Goa is more than five times its 14.5 lakh population. Reports like the one in Open indicate that Goa is finding it difficult to keep its head above the surge. At the same time, a local newspaper has suggested that 35% of the population in Goa now consists of migrants. Are these the fount of Goa’s problems?

Goa is like a veritable pie that everyone wants a piece of. Drawn by its beauty and, the much spoken of laid-back lifestyle, there is a steady influx of people making the state their home. These features attract tourists too. Others come in search of employment. It comes as no surprise, then, that property is a gold mine and land is coveted. Not only are Goans selling, converting or renting their old houses, but land too is being converted for commercial and residential purposes.

With Goans migrating and families becoming smaller and residing in different parts of the world, maintaining properties is no longer easy. Selling it, therefore, becomes the best way to cash in and divvy-up the proceeds before the land is usurped while renting properties becomes a source of income and also ensures that they are maintained.

The Economic Survey 2017-18 finds double-digit percentage growth in the construction sector over previous years in most years between 2012-13 and 2016-17. During a low growth year in the construction industry, electricity/gas/water services – basic requirements for sale of new construction – have shown double-digit growth. That there has been no corresponding dip in this sector is intriguing, to say the least. At the same time, an official from the directorate of census operations has stated that one out of every five houses remains unoccupied.

Does the much vaunted susegado approach of the Goan cloak a desire to make hay at all times? During colonial and pre-liberalisation times, the landed were unable to sell or convert their property because of the poor economy. Pre-liberation Goa ran mostly on remittances from Goans working outside the state and from agriculture. Others were employed in the Portuguese bureaucracy or were involved in import/export. Smuggling from then Bombay also helped.

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