Goa Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Francis D'Souza on Saturday said that crimes committed by migrants in the coastal State is one of the major issue troubling the government.
Speaking at the annual function of Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) near Panaji late on Saturday, Mr. D’Souza accused the migrants of committing majority of crimes in the State.
“Migration into Goa does make it a little difficult to handle the issue. See the crime statistics. Most of the crime is committed by migrants. So how do we take care of it and handle the situation? It is one of the issues troubling the government,” Mr. D'Souza said.
Goa, one of the top beach tourism destinations in the country, attracts nearly 35 lakh tourists every year which includes around 4-5 lakh of foreigners.
He also said that there was a need to be sensitive towards tourism as small incidents occurring here are being played up in international media.
“You have to be very sensitive towards tourism. Sensitive because, the whole world is focused towards Goa. The small things that happen in Goa is big news, international news. You can't stop it. But we will have to take care that such things don’t happen,” the Deputy Chief Minister said.
At the same time he called for continued efforts to ensure safety of tourists visiting Goa.
“Goa is losing International destination tag’
However, at the function, industry stakeholders from private sector cautioned the government that increased inflow of domestic tourists is ruining Goa's reputation as an international tourist destination.
Francisco Braganca, outgoing president of TTAG, body representing travel and hospitality, speaking on behalf industry said that the coastal State of Goa needs to restore the balance of inbound foreign and domestic tourists.
“High-end foreign tourists add colour to the destination, and mind you, they do not trouble anybody,” said Mr. Braganca.
“Gradually we are losing the image of an international tourist destination. You find more and more domestic tourists are creating an imbalance to the kind of tourists visiting Goa,” he said and hastened to add that he did not mean to say that ‘we do not encourage domestic tourism, which brings us good revenue.’
“The international tourism is necessary to sustain domestic tourism itself,” he said.
“Most of the domestic tourists coming to Goa think they are going abroad, because, they think there are lot of foreigners here. And if we do not have foreigners and we will not have international tourists or even domestic tourists,” explained Mr. Braganca.
Goa has been a popular tourism destination for European and Russian tourists. However, even with the economic slowdown in the recent years, the number of foreign nationals arriving here has increased gradually. On the other hand, the domestic tourists arriving here has also increased manifold.
Mr. Braganca felt that this increase is creating an imbalance which is dangerous for the industry in the long term and said, “We need to correct this.”
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