Tourism industry to help make Goa safe

Panaji, Feb 19: Tourism industry stakeholders Friday announced they would donate a fleet of jeeps and motorcycles to help mobilize a special tourism security organization (TSO) to curb increasing crime and beggar nuisance in Goa.

Speaking to reporters Friday, Ralph de Souza, president of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), said that if properly calibrated the TSO, which will comprise ex-servicemen would make a huge difference in making Goan beaches safer.

"The TTAG will be donating 20 Bolero jeeps and 14 motorcycles to make the TSO sufficiently mobile. We wholeheartedly endorse the move by the state government to start this force," de Souza said.

He said the TSO would not only help keep the 105 kms coastline of Goa safe but will also help keep the menace of beggars, hawkers, etc on the beaches at bay.

"Foreigners and other tourists have always complained of how hawkers, beggaer and pimps of shady massage parlours bother them on beaches," de Souza said.

He also said that the begging menace of Goan beaches had increased so much that it was now an organized industry by itself. "You don't have to contact us to know when the first tourist charter plane will land in Goa. The beggars will tell you that. They come to Goa the moment the first charter tourist plane lands in Goa and leave after the last one goes," de Souza said.

The TSO is expected to be in force by the next financial year.

Goa sees 2 million tourists annually, nearly a quarter of which are domestic tourists.