As the nation is outraged over the Mumbai gang-rape of a photojournalist and an American woman’s horrifying tales of her being publicly molested in India, Goa’s tourism industry, which arguably hosts the country’s largest foreign tourist population is baying for the blood of drunken male marauders who, they say, have begun to ruin its reputation.
The State Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) has asked the Government to ensure police armed with breath analysers keep them in check.
“It is the need of the hour that the police should be posted at the exit point of Calangute beach, Titos’s lane and Baga beach with breath analysers since most of the visitors are drunk and driving or riding bikes… especially between 3 pm to midnight,” TTAG president Francisco de Braganca said.
Tito’s lane, named after the famed Mecca of Goan nightlife Club Tito’s and the Baga-Calangute beach stretch, is the epicentre of Goa’s tourism industry where most of its tourists visit keeping life alive there all hours of the day.
The male domestic tourist, referred to as a bhingta (groundnut) in local slang, who often roams in groups has achieved a marauding lecher stereotype one that is increasingly begun to bother European tourists.
The Goa Government has already issued orders that liquor stores, bars and pubs down their shutters a couple of hours earlier than what was previously allowed.
The order, which was passed by the Finance Ministry on Thursday is a double-edged sword and could cripple the nightlife in Goa’s tourist-friendly coastal areas. While liquor stores have been asked to shut by 9 pm, standalone pubs and discos shut shop by 1 am, as against 5 am earlier.
The move, officials said, was intended to stop public loitering and littering in the coastal areas under the influence of alcohol and as a general remedy to the deteriorating law and order situation along beach villages. This negative impact could hamper tourism instead of promoting it, Braganca admitted.
“Goa is known for its night life. It is one of the attractions for the high-end tourists coming into Goa. We need to strike a balance and need to allow certain clubs and discos who have a certain standard to remain open late in the night,” Braganca said.
“Perhaps the Government in its attempt to control dance bars, has also prejudiced the high discotheques and clubs who have a separate identity and status,” he said.
A BJP legislator representing the Calangute constituency said that the order of his Government would hamper tourism.
“It will be bad for tourism in Goa. Nightlife cannot be stopped, it should be allowed to remain open until morning,” Calangute MlA Michael lobo said, adding that rules against drunken hooliganism and public nuisance needed to be implemented better.
Earlier, the State BJP got itself into a controversy after the party leaders spoke in different voices on the issue of dance bars. While the State party vice president said that, given the Supreme Court verdict, he didn’t have a problem with dance bars operating, a BJP legislator representing the Calangute coastal belt said he was completely against it.
Goa attracts nearly 2.8 million tourists over half a million of which are foreigners.