Tourism Is Not Enough: Redefining Goa as an Ecotourism Destination

Jan 2025 Indranil Deb

Student of Environmental Management, CCE, IISc, Bengaluru

Summary

There are news reports of a decline in tourism in Goa, although it's too early to determine if this is a growing trend. Activists and experts highlight the need for immediate action to address local issues, improve transportation, and enhance tourist experiences to revive tourism. Since these news and data points are yet to be verified by concerned authorities, Goa must seize this opportunity to reposition itself as a hub for eco-friendly and sustainable tourism. The focus should be on addressing current challenges and redefining its image to reclaim its charm and maintain its status as a premier travel destination. The paper aims to suggest what Goa tourism should do to bring fresh set of tourists who are environmentally conscious and reposition itself as green tourism destination.

Keywords

Sustainable Tourism, Ecotourism, Biodiversity, BLTM, Sustainable tourism, Natural Capital Accounting, green tourism, MICE tourism, meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions, tourism product lifecycle

Geographical Location

Goa is situated along the Central west coast of India lying in between coordinates:

Latitude :

14°53'N to 15°40'N

Longitude :

73°40'E to 74°21'E

The altitude ranges from sea level to more than 600 mts above sea level in the Western Ghats.

Goa, India's smallest state is a relatively narrow strip of land about 105 km in length and 65 km wide, covering an area of 3,702 sq. km. It has the Arabian Sea to the west and the biodiversity-rich Western Ghats to the east. The Western Ghats, a UNESCO World

Heritage site, is renowned for its ecological significance and a biodiversity hotspot.

The State comprises 11 talukas, out of which Tiswadi, Bardez, Pernem, Bicholim, Satari and Ponda talukas comprise North Goa district (1736 sq km) and Mormugao, Salcette, Canacona and Quepem make up South Goa district (1966 sq km). North to South, the length of Goa State is 105 km from North to South and 60 km from east to west. The geographical area of Goa State is 3702 sq. km.

Discussion

Goa is always a centre of interest for ecological scientist, environmentalist, enthusiast and tourists, business groups for reasons mostly related to tourism. Since we are talking about environment and it impact in Goa's tourism, we would be discussing the effects and efforts by environmentalist from various parts of the country who trying their best to safeguard goa's best kept natural beauty.

The paper also highlights as per secondary research, the role of Goa tourism department and efforts by Goa Biodiversity members and government stakeholders to protect and work for the sustainable tourism of Goa.

The paper further highlights concerns and issues by public groups and people who are working in the environmental field . Few concerns by scientist group stated below -

Goa has more of private forests, because back then, the Portuguese gave away a lot of forest land to individuals. While some of them have used parts of the areas for tourism and recreation, some others have left it and moved to other parts of the country. We have come across cases like where a man, now settled in Bengaluru, owns over 400 acres of land in Goa. As per the Land Ceiling Act, 1975, one person cannot hold such large chunks of land, this is what we are studying and identifying,' Prof TV Ramachandra, from the Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, told The New Indian Express.

The researchers also found that in Goa, a lot of forest land has been diverted for cashew plantations and other crops. The teams are studying the anthropogenic pressure on the areas, changes in biodiversity, list of existing species, how the species have been affected and how many have been lost.

Peaceful Society (A Gandhian Voluntary Org) also highlighted few concerns 1 :

• · People are generally ignorant about the extent of biodiversity and its economic and ecological significance
• · There is no inventory/checklist of Goa's biodiversity. A statistical data sheet was produced by Dr. Kamat which shows about 4500 species.
• · Pressures of development, especially construction activity, mining, quarrying, tourism, urbanisation, industrialization are eroding biodiversity
• · There is no emphasis on biodiversity in education.
• · Existing environmental acts are not enforced in Goa.
• · There is no literature on biodiversity in local languages

Tourism in Goa is not well-organized or responsible. Diversion of basic necessities like water supply and energy for the purpose of tourism businesses is a major issue, as is the diversion of common property resources including land, forests, beaches, rivers, and natural water sources. Hotels, attractions, and sightseeing spots are all marketed to the people and priced accordingly. Goa is quickly losing out on middle- to high-end tourists that value "customer experiences and lifestyles and not

product performance" (Holbrook, 2000) over "product performance." (A STUDY OF TOURISM AND ECOTOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN GOA by UTTAM KUMAR YV, DR. ARUN KUMAR JADON)

Going forward and scope of work

Goa is influenced by two global biomes: the marine biome of the Arabian Sea and the terrestrial forest biome of the Western Ghats. Hence, we should position Goa as sustainable tourist spot in India and not just a tourist spot with lot of beaches.

Further, local authorities should understand the biodiverse position of Goa and work towards developing and preserving its natural resources.

Major Biodiversity sites in Goa



Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary, Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary, Dr. Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Navelim Wetlands, CruzMerces, and others are the biodiverse sites in Goa. Goa has 11 rivers flowing in which a source of freshwater and irrigation.

Purvatali Rai sacred grove in Surla, Bicholim and Curtorim are the two biodiversity heritage site in Goa.

Integrating Natural Capital Accounting for Sustainable Tourism

Authorities and environmental stakeholders of Goa should conduct Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) and commission a valuation strategy on the biodiversity of Goa. The NCA should be done with the objective to help Goa tourism facilitate and position as Ecotourism destination. While conducting secondary research, it was observed that there are work of research on Natural Accounting of Goa biodiversity - forest and other ecosystem elements, hence it would be good to further the work and take advantage of past research to update on the lines of tourism.

One could also refer reports and book on Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services, Karnataka State has been written and published by the team of researchers from IISc, Bangalore under the scientific assistance of Dr T V Ramachandra of IISc, Bangalore/ now Bengaluru. 3

Further note A case study of Gondwana Collection Namibia using the Resource Nexus approach Integrating Natural Capital Accounting for Sustainable Tourism | United Nations University

Sustainable tourism

Sustainable tourism is defined by the UN Environment Program and UN World Tourism Organization as 'tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.'

Additionally, they say that sustainable tourism 'refers to the environmental, economic, and sociocultural aspects of tourism development, and a suitable balance must be established between these three dimensions to guarantee its long-term sustainability' (UNEP & UNWTO, 2005: 11-12. Making Tourism More Sustainable - A Guide for Policy Makers ).

Ecotourism is a niche segment of tourism in natural areas. The term emerged in the late 1980s.

Fennell described it as such: 'Ecotourism is a sustainable form of natural resource-based tourism that focuses primarily on experiencing and learning about nature, and which is ethically managed to be low-impact, non-consumptive, and locally-oriented. It typically occurs in natural areas, and should contribute to the conservation or preservation of such areas' (Fennell, 1999: 43. Ecotourism: An Introduction ).

Heartening to see that topic such as sustainable tourism and regenerative tourism already mentioned and explained by Goa Tourism Development Corporation. On the ground Implementation always remains a challenge. Thus, the objective of this paper is to provide feedback and highlight the direction where Goa tourism should be reimagined while all the resources are in place. The future of travel lies in our ability to prioritize regenerative practices, creating a harmonious balance between economic development and environmental and cultural preservation (source: Goa tourism).

Channelising the crossover of corporate interest, tourism (BLTM tourism market) and ESG goals

Goa is also hot destination for corporate events and annual cultural programmes. Business groups and agencies comes to Goa to conduct corporate events. This market is also known as the Business + Leisure Travel & MICE (BLTM). This gives ample opportunities for third party agencies, small or individual businesses to drive the corporate event objectives. Hence this is a great opportunity for Goa tourism department to plan and position Goa's biodiverse and eco-friendly hotspots for tourism cum business getaway. These events would focus on sustainability (E.g. ecofriendly venues), which would eventually fall under CSR and ESG corporate goals. Goa government authorities and stakeholders should come together to design environmentally friendly policies to encourage corporate events that could position Goa as environmental/ sustainable host for corporate event. This packaging would also act as educating corporate (including MNCs) tourists about Goa's rich and environmentally friendly culture. The resultant outcome of sustainable tourism solution would align with ESG strategy, eventually corporate could market the event as one of their sustainable initiatives to achieve SDG targets.

Un-Vegas of the Goa

Goa is often perceived as Vegas of India due to indulgence of alcoholism and drug abuse on certain beaches. Repositioning of Tourism of Goa would change the perception and help Ecotourism as a product in a new way.

Limitation

The paper analysed based on various reports and data points, Goa tourism stories available both in the government official website/ online resources as well as secondary sources (news, ecological and environmental websites, etc). However, some of the reports are dated. Hence, there might be different results once they are followed or updated. For example: Beach Carrying Capacity Report (by Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority) is dated: Number of footfalls as estimated based on survey carried out by the Department of Tourism during peak and off season of 2015 - 2016 4

The paper did not conduct any Spatial-environmental policy study (Impact study and Decision support study). Hence, there is a scope for further studies in order to promote Goa as an environmentally rich and biodiverse destination.

The paper did not go deep with primary research into each pocket of Goa tourism where there are currently efforts are made by enthusiasts and environmentalist to promote Goa tourism in a different way to promote the Susegad life of Goa . There are calmer side of Goa tourism which promotes green, cultural and mindful goa. Hence there are potential areas for research to explore more about Goa tourism to discover the true potential of Ecotourism in Goa.

Early-stage theory

Before concluding, the paper after reviewing few research literatures on sustainable tourism, tried to add a prospective around the tourism product lifecycle. The lifecycle of Goa tourism products would show the growth and maturity phase in sales. Based on the product lifecycle concept (pic 1), stakeholders of Goa tourism could take this forward and reimagine to offer the world a new version of Goa tourism. Sustainability and affinity towards environment and related product or service are in trend, and this trend would drive tourist to Goa across age groups and categories.

The seminal studies of Nash and Butler (1990) and May (1991) coined the concept of sustainable tourism by evaluating the impact of tourism on the environment. This relationship captures the effects on the preservation of biodiversity and ecosystems. Besides, it considers human well-being by balancing economic, social and environmental aspects (Ruhanen et al.,2019; Pehin Dato Musa and Chin, 2022). Even so, authors such as Sharpley (2020) still recognise the value of socially and environmentally sustainable tourism, but not as sustainable development. He argues that institutions and the tourism industry should rethink new forms of production and consumption on a global scale.

Life cycle of Goa's tourism product (pic 1)



The above curve in the life cycle graph show Ecotourism is in between the introduction stage and growth stage. To simplify understanding, the paper opines that in the spirit to revive the phasing out tourism product of Goa, Ecotourism would be a long-term sustainable solution for the economy and environment of Goa. Goa has all the resources in place hence eco-tourism would be a perfect pivot for the tourism of Goa. Hence it has been visualised in between the introduction and growth phase within the lifecycle stages.

The commercial Sun & beach, coastal tourism is the most mature product of the Goa tourism market. While, there are tourism products from environmental tourism perspective if packaged well has lot of potential to grow into mature stages and sustain within pockets of Goa. Ecotourism along with Business + Leisure Travel & MICE market could become one the potential mature products in the tourism option. However, the demand needs to be created with initial investments and push from local government bodies as well as private partners.

Conclusion

The tourism industry in Goa is undergoing changes due to several factors. High airfares, hotel prices, and taxi rates are seen as barriers for travellers. While premium or other categories of tourists are opting for alternate destinations. Additionally, as per secondary sources there is a noticeable shift in visitor preferences toward less crowded destinations like Assagao, Morjim, Ashwem, Siolim, and Anjuna, which offer a tranquil and unique experience compared to usual spots. These trends reflect evolving tourism dynamics in the region, emphasizing the need for innovation and adaptability in the hospitality sector of Goa. Hence the paper suggests a relook into the tourism of Goa and reposition Goa as environmentally responsive tourist destination.

References



The Susegad Life | An award-winning Goa Documentary 2023