Fred,
It is very charitable and convenient for you to dismiss ridiculous statements by the Union Tourism Minister as hyperbole.
Regarding the tourism benefits, one need hardly dwell on the trickle down effects.
What are your own views on the tourism sector? It appears to favour differential pricing for foreign tourists to Goa and subsidies for Indian tourists abroad. So, who is being defensive about a situation which would be to who's advantage?
This issue has been debated in this forum before and it is indeed time to call a spade a spade. I recall you previously sympathised with a well known Goa environmentalist who resented that foreign tourists complained of overcharging - being charged Rs 13 for a bottle of water marked Rs 12 was his specific example. Also, there was the claim that the tourists should not use buses but taxis because the public transport services in Goa are under strain.
In London we too have to face foreign nationals buying up property and pushing up prices. Also we have tourists putting a strain on the transport network.
Have I read you correctly? It would be useful if you could indicate your views.
Cheers,
Eddie Fernandes ==============================================
----- Original Message ----- From: "Frederick Noronha(FN)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <goanet@goanet.org>
Sent: Friday, December 24, 2004 8:24 PM
Subject: Re: [Goanet]Cheapie Brits visiting Goa along their butlers, chefs and cooks
On Fri, 24 Dec 2004, Eddie Fernandes wrote:
No one has questioned the claim by India's Union Tourism Minister that British visit Goa with their chefs, cooks and butlers and enjoy a cheap holiday. In the UK, it is only the multi-millionaires who can afford to employ chefs and butlers and the amount they spend in renting a villa outstrips the expenditure by any other class of tourist.
The main provider of rental holiday accommodation has a website at http://www.lazydays.co.uk/ Check their rates. A villa in Nerul, for example, has a peak season rent of Rs 3 lakhs per week ( air fares are excluded)
On the other hand, many middle class Indian tourists visit Goa with their cooks/maids/ayahs.
Hi Eddie:
A politician's hyperbole does not negate the existance of an issue, which has been debated often on Goanet (and which expats tend to view defensively, IMHO).
Re the Rs 300,000 per week villa at Nerul at peak season, I wonder who's making the money. Let me know if home-owners (specially those expats who got pushed into going in for rent-backs) make anything of a fraction of this money.
Also, the actual impact of tourism -- millionaires, butlers, chefs, cooks or whoever -- on the local real estate reality has not been adequately looked at. I know quite a large section of people who have put in a life of hard work and who would probably never be able to afford a decent home in Goa, thanks to the real estate boom which in significant part is tourism-generated.
Are expat Goans willing to call a spade a spade, or just build arguments to be defensive over a situation which is to their advantage? Sorry for this bluntspeak. No offence meant. FN
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