Goa, from simply tourism to 'moral tourism'

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Keywords: Goa Murder, Scarlette Keeling

New Delhi: Once known for fish feni, football, hippies and tourists, Goa - after the mysterious murder of British teenager Scarlette Keeling – is trying hard to maintain its reputation.

While the native conservative Goans never much cared for the laid-back hippies, Scarlette's murder has led to some moral arguments.

“Is it not the responsibility of parents too to see that girls, as young as 15 years, are not allowed to roam the beaches alone?” asked Congress MP Shantaram Naik.

But with in-bound foreign tourism at an all-time high in the last decade, Tourism Minister Ambika Soni does not want to get into the morality debate just as yet.

“People are talking about the girl being left alone without any family member. But I don't want to get into that as yet,” she said.

But not everybody wants the conscience-keepers to have a field day.

“Please don't victimise a victim like this in this House again. Will the Minister lend her voice to support Scarlette's mother's request for a CBI probe?'' questioned Left leader Brinda karat.

Goa may have become a haven for free sex and drugs but its also a conservative small town.

The cocktail of free-living hippies meeting upwardly mobile rustics has perhaps resulted in a tragic murder but instead of arguments on morality, urgent steps are needed for a tourism police.