Trash and Trauma on the Beaches of Goa, India Highlight Disruptions by Global Tourism

Think of Goa and what comes to mind? Endless sandy beaches with coconut palms waving in the breeze and the warm waters of the Arabian Sea lapping at your feet? All-night raves under the stars? Friendly hospitable people? Spicy seafood washed down with a bottle of Kingfisher beer? Maybe nothing at all, as Goa is not the first destination that winter-weary Vancouver residents tend to think of. Hawaii and Mexico, even Thailand, are closer. To get to Goa -- located as it is on the west coast of India south of Bombay -- takes about 30 hours of flying time and at least one transfer.

What probably doesn’t come to mind is mounds of plastic bottles and rotting garbage, water shortages, rice paddy fields paved over to build 5-star hotels, drug and sex-related crimes and local residents increasingly agitated about what tourism -- and tourists --are doing to their country. But that too is the reality of global tourism, as we discovered in a recent month-long visit to Goa.

The impact of jet travel on global warming is well known by now. There are many websites where you can calculate the carbon impact of your flight to your tropical vacation. You enter your credit card information and click on a button, and presto! instant forgiveness. Unfortunately, it’s not so easy to mitigate the other environmental, social and economic effects of global tourism. And the effects aren’t limited to beach vacations in warmer climes either: Venice is literally sinking under the weight of its millions of visitors; Barcelona residents increasingly complained about inflated prices in restaurants and bars and streets that can’t be navigated because of the hordes of sightseers (on a recent visit we saw the plaintive question “If it’s tourist season, why can’t we shoot them?” painted on a wall. A nearby mural equated tourism with terrorism); Many people in the United Kingdom are worried that their country is being turned into a giant “Ye Olde England” museum.

With a population of 1.3 million and a land area of 3,700 square kilometres, Goa is India’s smallest state in size and fourth-smallest in population. Inhabited for thousands of years, it first came to European attention about 500 years ago when the Portuguese seized part of it because of its navigable rivers, sheltered natural ports and strategic location on the Arabian Sea. Five hundred years of often brutal Portuguese occupation have left Goa with a sizeable Catholic minority, relaxed views on alcohol, and a meat and fish-based cuisine that combines Portuguese and Indian elements in a unique way. Education standards and literacy are high, the cost of living is comparatively low and English is commonly spoken, adding to Goa’s attraction for northern visitors. It has rich cultural traditions with many writers, musicians and film makers creating works in both English and Konkani, the official state language.

Goa has been a popular destination for Western tourists since the first hippies “discovered” its seemingly pristine beaches in the late 1960s. Charter flights from England, Russia, and elsewhere in Europe descend on the small airport at Dabolim, disgorging hundreds of people daily who are eager to lie on the beach, drink beer and escape the dreariness of a northern winter. Each year, Goa attracts 400,000 foreign and 1.3 million Indian tourists. The foreigners come mostly in the winter months, when the weather is cooler, with lows around 20 degrees and highs around 30, while the Indians come during the summer months. Tourism peaks in December and January, with Goa especially popular over Christmas and New Year’s.

Most foreign tourists come to Goa seeking sun, sand and suds. A few, however, are in search of less benign pleasures such as drugs and child sex. And there are people who will gladly supply these, for a price. Recently, newspapers in Goa have been debating whether a Russian “mafia” is bringing these vices to a new, more violent level. Crimes both against and by tourists are increasing in frequency, including rapes, child molestation and even murder. The most recent incident, the alleged murder of a Goan taxi driver by a Russian tourist, dominated local news for days.

The environment is the biggest loser in Goa’s tourism boom. Rice paddy fields and other lands are being bought up and redeveloped into hotels and villas at an increasing rate. Water, in short supply at even the best of times, is routinely diverted for hotel swimming pools and other non-essential uses. A short walk from any beach leads to piles of plastic water bottles, glass beer bottles and other tourism detritus. The beaches themselves, especially in north Goa, are increasingly littered and overcrowded.

Another negative impact (and one familiar to many British Columbians) is rampant real estate speculation, leading not only to the destruction of agricultural land and wild areas, but to inflated prices for housing. Developers are even knocking on the doors of Goan ancestral homes, offering to buy the properties so the houses can be rented out to tourists or knocked down for redevelopment. “For rent” and “for sale” signs abound -- many signs stipulate that only foreigners need apply.

Social values are also affected. Though Goans are known for their tolerant attitudes, they do take affront when their cultural norms are ignored. Nudity and skimpy bathing suits are frowned upon, a fact ignored or unknown to many tourists. And while ravers may think dancing all night to techno music is paradise, the villagers who live within hearing range may beg to differ. Locals also look askance when tourists clamber inside the fishing boats drawn up on the beach and pose for photos. As one Goan said to me, “Don’t they realize that those boats belong to somebody? How would they like it if I hopped in their car without permission and asked my buddies to take my photo? We don’t mind foreigners coming here,” he continued. “We welcome visitors, but we wish they would respect our culture and recognize that people actually live here.”

Tourism does bring benefits for Goa and other sun destinations. As Jorges Fernandes, president of the Federation of Association of Tourist Taxis in Goa said in a recent newspaper article, “Most of us tourist taxi drivers on the coastal belt were formerly fishermen, bakers, toddy tappers or farmers. Tourism gave us an attractive alternative livelihood.” Others make money through selling and developing real estate, setting up beach shacks, selling souvenirs or contracting out laundry services for hotels. But hotel workers are routinely exploited -- they tend to be paid minimum wage, their food rations are deducted from their paycheques and they rarely see any of the 10% service charge added on to hotel guests’ bills.

Goans themselves are increasingly taking a stand against the negative effects of tourism. The state tourism association, for example, is offering to train hoteliers in grey-water management. Incentives to recycle water and beer bottles are offered. Efforts are underway to organize hotel workers, and villagers are banding together to stop redevelopment of agricultural lands and to protect one another against aggressive foreigners. Goans are also demanding that police enforce anti-nudity and anti-noise regulations. The government has now contracted with a private company to keep the beaches free of litter. A recent letter to a Goan newspaper even suggested that non-Goans pay a fee to use Goa’s beaches, with the resulting income used to improve the lot of residents.

It’s not that Goans are against foreign visitors. Most welcome the positive economic impact that  tourism brings. But they want it on their terms. They want their culture, social mores and environment to be acknowledged.

So come to Goa, enjoy a glass of feni (the locally brewed cashew or coconut liquor) and a plate of fish curry. Swim in the warm waters of the Arabian Sea. And if you leave with increased respect for Goa’s culture, environment and people, so much the better.

Information on Goa abounds on the Internet. The official Goa Tourism page at goa-tourism.com is a good place to start. Lonely Planet’s Goa page (www.lonelyplanet.com/india/goa) is also useful. Both these sites tend to gloss over the negative effects of tourism, naturally. Wikipedia’s entry on Goa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goa) is more objective. To find out more about local efforts to control development, go to www.savegoa.com. 

We used travelocity.ca to research and book our flight (flying from Vancouver to London on Air Canada, and then on India-based Jet Airways from Heathrow to Bombay and Jet Lite from Bombay to Dabolim, Goa). Though most of our stay was with relatives, we did enjoy the hospitality of the Joie de Vivre Boutique Villa Resort, located near the Calangute beach in north Goa for a few days. Owned by Goans concerned with the negative impacts of tourism and the erosion of Goan culture, Joie de Vivre tries to evoke a true Goan experience. You can book online at www.jdv-goa-villas.com.