Why white tourists are avoiding Goa

I adjust the brim of my clown-sized straw hat and scrutinize the shoreline before me at Curlies on South Anjuna beach. Sunglasses locked and loaded, I tap out an ash, sip my beer. The scene unfolding on day two is a repeat of yesterday's. The Kayak Guy, sporting a gray bohemian patch of hair from his chin and donning a black cowboy hat, perches himself on one of the beach chairs and waits for customers. Thong Man, an elder European in great shape and fond of paddle ball, hits the ball back and forth with his partner, creating the only noticeable rhythm track against the backdrop of light ambient music filtering out from the speakers inside the shack.

The waiters look bored out of their minds already and appear even more reluctant than yesterday to retrieve the Tabasco. A scattered offering of bikini-clad and presumably Russian babes bathe in the sun or swim with their beaus. Resident beach dogs claim their snoozing grounds underneath the humble gathering of tourist bums. I struggle to raise one eyebrow feebly without raising the other, posing the question begging to be asked: Where the hell are all the white people? There are far too few of them compared to my previous trips during non-peak season. 

Could a new Bermuda Triangle be to blame for Goa's missing white tourists? Not that I'm missing my fellow goras. Not at all. And not that I'm self-loathing or a hater of my kind. I'm merely an observer on holiday orbiting our yellow dwarf star in search of amusement and travel deals in my little corner of the Milky Way. And what a great November birthday trip this has been with fewer white people around... easier to get unreserved seats for dinner at the beautiful cliff-side Thalassa restaurant, for instance.

Greater availability of cab drivers charging slightly less ridiculous fares. And if you know where to look in the shady world of travel brokers, select hotels are going at half-off for last-minute bookings during what is traditionally the start of peak season. Goa Triangle or not, Thong Man and his entourage are reaping the benefits of a slow start to an otherwise busy time for beach-goers.

Let's consider the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 earlier this year to be the catalyst for the theoretical base of our triangle, from the borders of Ukraine and Russia extending southward to India's smallest state, Goa. Indisputably, white people are missing from the Goa tourist scene despite a preliminary statement from the Minister of Culture and Tourism back in September assuring us that the ongoing conflict in the Ukraine wouldn't affect tourism in Goa.

It clearly has, however, with an estimated drop of 30 per cent in Russian tourists alone. Talk to the cabbies and private drivers. Talk to the restaurant and hotel staff. They'll all tell you it's not as busy as it should be. The Kayak Man was so slow that he didn't even bother getting up from his seat to push the kayak into the sea or to fit us with life jackets after the second day. “You look like strong swimmers. You don't need life jackets.” Be it just plain laziness or depression from lack of tourist cash flow – our half-hour journeys turned into hour-long adventures at less than our original agreed-upon rate.

On the flip side, a drop in tourism creates opportunities for the flexibly-abled. For those of us living in Mumbai, Goa is a practical no-brainer for a quick getaway. The months of November and December this year may be an ideal situation too if you can settle on a practical itinerary. For starters, flights out of Mumbai are only an hour; it can take more time to get to the airport than the actual flight itself. Travel to the north (Baga, Anjuna, Vagator, etc) requires about one additional hour to reach your hotel via cab.

Save money by hiring drivers by the day for getting around. If you can drive a scooter, the daily rate is around 300 rupees – about the same rate as a one-way cab fare from Baga to Vagator. Many of the shacks and restaurants have happy hours for buy-one-get-one-free offers or reduced prices. Find your preferred watering hole and ask a waiter. Discover other useful tips from the Department of Tourism.

The Goan coastline reveals a visual hierarchy consisting of nature and human engagement, a symbiotic relationship well worth experiencing. Coconut trees give way to the shacks and hotels, which give way to otherwise happy tourists frolicking in the sand and surf. A Goan holiday can go a long way to preserving such a balance when undertaken responsibly by mitigating our impact on the environment. From an economic perspective, the tourist dollar is all-crucial holistically for the Goans who make their livings there.

A drastic cut to the 162,000 Russians who visited in 2013 would likely make for a terrible year for many business owners in 2014. If the music festivals and holiday events in December don't make up the revenue from the tourist slump, Goa tourism stands to take a big hit, an unwelcome side effect of a military conflict over 5,000km away. It could well be that the best way we have to protest a war is to personally address the negative consequences of that conflict. It doesn't get any easier than going on holiday.