Many may not agree to this, but we cannot close our eyes to the reality, and the reality is, there are several cases of tourists, domestic as well as the foreigners being fleeced in Goa by the people connected to the tourism industry. It is the issue of debate as to how many of them are Goans and outsiders involved in this, but in the end, our tourism industry is getting affected and to atop this Goa’s CM, Mr. Pramod Sawant had appealed the people connected to the tourism industry of Goa to restrain from Looting and Thrashing the tourists.
Mr. Sawant is working very swiftly to improve the existing structure of the state. He has recently taken up the most important issue of transparency in employment process in Goa and now to give the boost to the tourism industry of Goa he appealed to the people to stop looting and thrashing the tourists coming down to the state otherwise the Goans may lose one of the most lucrative business too.
Mr. Sawant is not wrong when he asked the people to restrain from thrashing and fleecing the tourists since it has been happening for the past many years. There are several dozens of cases appeared in the media wherein the tourists have received Thrashing from the locals and fleeing the tourist in the name of the business is not new in the state.
There are cases of Taxi Drivers fleecing the tourists have kept coming up in the media from time to time. It may recall the case of the attack on the tourists that took place in Merces Goa just two years back. A minor spat between tourists and locals in Merces, Goa, turned violent due to which at least 20 people including a five-year-old suffered injuries.
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The incident took place when a 50-member family of tourists, dining at Hotel Cafe Hoble, had an encounter with Lawrence Dias, the prime accused. Dias was angered after one of the tourists allegedly brushed against him, and in retaliation, he slapped another tourist 58-year-old Lahu Ghodekar, reported the Indian Express.
Goa is already facing a huge loss of business in the tourism sector due to the weak tourism policies and lack of facilities in the state and the cases of fleecing, harassing plays the role of adding the fuel to the fire.
Mr. Sawant does not want the Goans to lose further business and hence he appealed to the Goans to restrain from troubling the tourist as they are our guests. “Looting and thrashing of tourists in Goa, a leading beach and nightlife tourism destination, would have to stop if the state’s tourism industry had to flourish,” Mr. Sawant said while speaking at the occasion of tourism-related function at the capital city on Thursday.
He also added that Goa had to stop relying on the migrant workforce in the tourism sector for the local Goan population to reap rewards from the tourism industry. Lamenting recent spate of attacks on tourists, the Goa Chief Minister said, “Looting of tourists, beating up tourists? What is this? Many times when we see this, we shut our eyes. It may be a foreigner or a local, but if we see tourists facing injustice then we have to help them”.
Sawant also pointed out that more than 50 percent of the tourism sector workforce comes from outside Goa and stressed on the need of locals getting the jobs in the tourism industry of Goa.
“If we look at the tourism industry today, more than 50 percent of service providers are outsiders. It’s only when we bring Goans into this industry, we will be able to help this grow?” Sawant said adding that “How much will we remain dependent on outsiders? If we can’t control this, Goans need to take the industry in their own hands. So many industries have gone out of our hands,” the Chief Minister said.
Goa attracts more than six million tourists into the state but the numbers have been kept declining due to lots cases came up against the tourists in the state. The Rape and murder of foreigners have taken the headlines of international media.
News Source: Outlook India
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