Casino gambling, drug trade, prostitution, HIV/AIDS and enclave tourism is de-Goanising the state and the need of the hour is to develop a theological response to tourism, according to a leading scholar attached to the Goa church.
In a research paper presented at a recent conclave organised by a Jesuit group, Fr. Victor Ferrao, dean at a Roman Catholic seminary that nurtures and trains young priests, also said that the Church is also faced with the challenge of addressing the mining imbroglio in Goa, where a ban on the mining industry, which once polluted rivers and forests with arsenic, had now caused large-scale unemployment in the state's interiors as per an IANS report.
"The drug trade, the flesh trade, casino gambling, HIV infection, child abuse and alcohol abuse are already exposing the dark side of tourism in Goa. The enclave tourism that is showing its ugly face is de-Goanising Goa," said Ferrao in his paper at the seminar on "Challenge of being a Goan Christian".
Enclave tourism refers to development of tourism in hubs or ghettos which are distinct in characteristic, owing to the class, nationality and nature of visitors frequenting these areas.
A case in point Ferrao mentioned is that some of Goa's beaches were now being known by their Russian names. This was "reason enough to drive home the de-Goanising dimension of the kind of tourism that we are promoting".
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