This holiday season, who’s ‘Uninvited’ from Goa?

In June 2022, a video surfaced online of a tourist driving a sports utility vehicle up and down Goa’s Anjuna beach. The vehicle soon ended up lodged firmly in the slippery sand and crashing waves. The video sparked outrage but for Goans it was just another instance – though a bit more egregious than usual – of disregard for the state Indians consider their personal party house.

Goa-based artist Angela Ferrão depicts this accurately in one of her cartoons: a tow-truck is parked on a beach and two visitors ask a man seated on a raised chair where the lifeguard is. “We save cars from the beach,” he replies. “Or the beach from the cars,” they say to him.

Come winter, tourist season begins in Goa with an ever-increasing number of visitors looking to let their hair down in the tiny coastal state. Since the Covid-19 pandemic and related restrictions have eased, tourist numbers have surged with the state recording nearly 50 lakh visitors in 2022 as of September that year, far outstripping Goa’s population of just over 15 lakh.

For years, Goans have struggled to draw attention to the toll of excess tourism to no avail. It is not only ecological and cultural but at times also...

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