Goa Needs to Control Rampant Construction of Hotels to Save itself from Drowning in Over-Tourism

According to the statistics provided by the Tourism Department, Goa gets approximately six million tourists to flow into the state which is three times the Goan population. But unfortunately, Goa does not have the proper infrastructure to handle this traffic, especially during the peak season things become unmanageable. Many investors have invested a huge sum of money into the state for the construction of hotels and resorts but does that really helps the tourism in the state?

According to the reports published in the Times of India, the Chief Secretary of Lakshadweep Mr. Mihir Vardhan has stated that Goa needs to minimize the problem with tourism and not get drown into it from the “cheap” contingent. “To do this, the state must limit the construction of new hotels,” he said.

Mr. Vardhan was speaking with the context of tourism in Lakshadweep at the Film Bazaar in IFFI. “We take the environment very carefully and keep track of how many tourists it can handle,” he told The Times of India.

According to him, there is a serious need for Goa cutting down on the mushrooming growth of Hotels in Goa if it wants to regulate Tourism in the state. Goa should cut down on the mushrooming growth of hotels if it wants to regulate its tourism, Mihir Vardhan, chief secretary, Lakshadweep, said. 

Mr. Vardhan was speaking with the TOI reporter at the IFFI venue in Goa. “They are just going on adding more and more tourists. We don’t have that kind of policy. We are very careful about our environment and regulate how many people come and go,” he said.

There is no doubt that Baga and Calangute become unbearable during the season time and one cannot move around freely in that locality. “Carrying capacity is very important. Baga and Calangute have become urban slums. Twenty years ago, it was a pristine place but now, it’s a very sorry state of affairs,” he said.

There is a serious need for a proper tourism policy in the state. The department needs to decide on its focus on the promotion of tourism in the state to make sure that the industry does not die of suffocation. Developers from Goa and outside the state investing blindly thinking of the returns but due to this everyone is losing the business at the end.    

Source: TOI