TOURISM

Goa's Beach Shacks Face Quicksand
By Sebastian Rodrigues

"GOA has emerged as a favourite tourist destination for people all over the world, not merely because of its natural beauty but also because of the love and affection of the Goan people. The beach shacks have played a major role in pioneering and promoting tourism in Goa much before the Tourism department was conceived, " said Seby D’Souza, the president of The All Goa Beach Shack Owners Association.

Seby dwelt on "The Charm of the Beach Shacks in the Tourism Industry", which detailed the nitty-gritty of the issues involved in the seasonal trade, at the Friday Balcao discussion session on November 3. Goa’s famed beach shacks, known world over for its beach hospitality, are facing a fierce onslaught from the more powerful sectors of tourism—the five-star tourism.

"Beach shacks, which make the visitor come back again and again to the Goan beaches, have become a costly affair, with the Goa government pushing up the licence fees to Rs.35,000 for this tourism season," said Seby. The tourism department has been arbitrarily hiking up the fees since the last four years.

Another method of throttling the poor man’s trade along Goa’s coast, is to accuse the shack owners of polluting the beach with garbage. Seby rightly points out that no continental visitor would venture anywhere near the shack if they found any garbage in the vicinity. Hence the shack owners, in their own interests, have even placed dustbins to counter the garbage menace on the beaches.

Regarding the allegation that beach shacks have emerged into a narcotic artery of Goa, Seby says, "There are some black sheep among us." However, he adds, "Just because of a few wounds on a body, you cannot shoot a person," defending aggressively the interests of the beach shacks.

The Tourism department, which was evolved much latter than the setting up of the first beach shack in Goa’s tourism history, have been slapping an increasingly long list of un-abidable conditions on the shack owners, including no cooking in the shack (though heating of the food is allowed), no employment of any kind whatsoever, etc. Seby himself gave up his lucrative career as a medical representative in favour of his beach shack in Candolim.

The Tourism department also introduced the lottery system to decide as to who is going to be the winner to run a shack on a particular beach stretch. Under the system the future of the shack owners became very uncertain. After investing so much into the business in a year, the shack owner would not know whether he would be lucky to get the licence next year. This lead to the malpractice of paying a premium.

Seby pointed out that running of a shack is not a simple matter in the face of the rising rate of investment, to procure the requisite equipment. Despite all the hardships, the beach shack owners are going to introduce a beach rescue facility. The Association is also embarking on a study of the shack-carrying capacity in the near future.

According to Seby D’Souza, The shack owners fear that their humble establishments, which made a stay in Goa memorable for many a continental tourist, may soon disappear if the government carries on with its vindictive approach in order to help the starred hotels to earn at the cost of the very people who pioneered beach tourism in Goa.