Goa is losing the tourism plot

We’re in the midst of a long holiday weekend, and Goa is groaning under the strain of unchecked tourism that has send the lives of locals askew. There’s no doubt tourism is the State’s mainstay, on which its economy stands, but its indiscriminate growth is threatening to destroy Goa’s intrinsic worth.  

This value erosion of the State could be seen on Independence Day (August 15) when tourists descended on its shores in hordes and literally brought the idyllic paradise under their siege. As they did that, Goa resembled nothing of what it is.   

At one of its beaches, a sea of revellers swarmed around – some dashed into water, some sprawled up on the sand, some guzzled down beer, some showed off their acrobatic skills by lifting friends over their shoulders, some huddled together to devour snacks, some women in burqa just sat in the sea water and gossiped like they were in a park.  

These images were a contrast of Goa’s beaches in the past, when one could go swimming in the sea, walk along thinly crowded beaches strewn with seashells, imprints of footmarks of crabs, seagulls, cranes and other sea creature and watch fishing boats in the distance.

And for food and drinks, you made your way to the cosy shacks, which offered sunbeds to lounge on.

Similarly, Goa’s streets were jammed with traffic and vehicular movement on them slowed down to a snail’s speed. In this traffic melee, horns blared and people were running out of patience. The views outside the window of their vehicles of nodding coconut palms, shimmering river estuary dotted with casino cruises and the paddy fields along the roads did not appeal as much as they did on non-tourist days.

Another side-effect of unplanned tourism growth has been the noise pollution, giving sleepless nights to the residents of Goa. Despite the Supreme Court directive of no noise pollution between 10 pm and 6 am – the time when people sleep – many establishments continue to flout it.

During holidays or tourism seasons, this menace is at its peak as pubs and dance clubs try to make a windfall from tourists’ desire to party through the night.  As things stand today, the debate on how tourism should be pursued in Goa has two arguments.

One propounds unbridled growth for economic prosperity and the other lays emphasis on sustainable growth that takes into consideration ecological, social and cultural aspects too.   

Today’s tourism development is based on the narrow vision of revenue generation and tourist footfalls. This has resulted in overtourism. It’s a model based on volumes rather than quality. Let’s not forget Goa is the tiniest State in the country with a total land area of 3,702 sq km. Of this, large parts are eco-sensitive areas, which will not be able withstand developmental onslaught.

Therefore, it’s pertinent that the State government evolves a farsighted policy, which would reap dividends in the long, rather than go for short-term economic gains.  As per the macroeconomic data collator CEIC, Goa raked in all-time high tourism revenue of Rs 169 crore in 2024.  This is way above its average tourism revenue of Rs 24.2 crore between 1991 and 2024.  

According to the department of tourism in Goa, tourism contributes around 40 per cent to Goa’s GSDP. At current prices, Goa’s budget estimates expect the State’s GSDP at Rs 1.21 trillion for 2024-25.

The jump in Goa’s tourism revenue, which is pushing up its overall GSDP growth, has come on the back of aggressive tourism. Recently, Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte informed that in the last tourist season, the inflow of “visitors” into the State had touched one crore.

The question is; should Goa’s tourism be just about the number of visitors or should it also include carrying capacity, quality of tourists and their spending power, preserving natural wealth and other such elements?

One can get an insight into the dynamics of Goa’s tourism economics from a study on domestic tourism commissioned by the Central tourism ministry in 2005-06.

Its report titled Collection of Domestic Tourism Statistic for the State of Goa, compiled by Datamation Consultants Pvt Ltd, shows that the share of domestic overnight visitors into the State for that year was 84.50 per cent while for foreign visitors it was 15.50 per cent.

The total tourist spend in all categories was at Rs 1,581.41 crore. Of this, domestic tourists’ contribution was Rs 893.71 crore and foreign tourists’ Rs 687.7 crore. These figures indicate that even though percentage of foreign travellers into Goa was smaller, their average spend was much higher than domestic travellers.  

The same report showed that a domestic tourist, on an average, spent Rs 1,081 per day whereas a foreign tourist spent Rs 2,415 per day, suggesting the average spend by foreign tourists was almost double of domestic tourists’ average spend.

This data could be useful for State tourism authorities to draft a policy geared towards attracting tourists with high spending power, which could check massive influx of visitors into Goa and release some of the pressure on the State’s infrastructure and limited resources.

As this happens, Goa's residents can also reclaim their laidback and susegad - carefee disposition - lifestyle, which has been swept away in the flood of tourism that has hit the State.