The belated admission by police in Goa that Scarlett Keeling, the 15-year-old British girl found dead on a beach last month, may have been murdered is as shocking in revealing local corruption as it is damaging to one of India's most popular tourist destinations. The police asserted initially that the girl had drowned after taking drugs. After a second autopsy, the arrest for rape of a suspect was challenged by her mother. The police are now attempting to delay matters further by ordering extra medical examinations to prove the girl's age. They are also seeking to deflect criticism of their work by blaming the mother for negligence, amid accusations of a cover-up, media reports of corruption and the mysterious disappearance of a man who claimed to have witnessed what happened.

The sordid affair has shone an unwelcome spotlight on the hinterland of this small state that has grown rich on a $465 million tourist industry, accounting for 15 per cent of its economy. The availability of drugs, the lack of proper regulation and the influx of predominantly young Western tourists - 60 per cent of them British - have attracted the unscrupulous and the opportunists hoping to profit from the tourists' naivety. Criminal elements appear to have formed a cosy relationship with the police. A blind eye has been turned too often to what has been happening near the golden beaches. Goa has got rich on a louche image. It now looks a lot less carefree than the tourist posters proclaim.

The problem for Goa is the same as the difficulty faced by other tourist destinations “discovered” by the young and the adventurous and trading on their fashionable, hippy associations. Ibiza, Bali, The Gambia and parts of Thailand are all places where the prevailing hedonism attracts a large number of free-spending tourists but runs counter to the more conservative views and mores of the host country. Entrepreneurs who have invested in the bars, clubs, pools and hotels that bring in the tourists are keen to encourage a lively reputation in the West. That same reputation, however, can cause resentment, disdain and confusion to the very people working in these resorts. A clash of assumptions can have dangerous consequences.

Such clashes have been increasing in Goa as the tourist numbers rise. The Indian media have reported 27 deaths of foreigners already this year, though police said many were from natural causes. The state government now needs to take an urgent look at regulation, the safety of women tourists, the rise in crime, availability of drugs and the impact, beyond the financial bonanza, of tourism on Goa's values and way of life.

There are other aspects of this tragedy that are disturbing, however, and have little to do with India. The question many must ask is why a 15-year-old, who had never been abroad before, was left in the company of strangers by a mother who then travelled with other school-age daughters to another state. It is not only tourist authorities who must exercise responsibility. But those going on holiday must also understand the dangers of what can happen when the law, especially on drugs, is not enforced. Countries such as India, and local authorities such as Goa, cannot afford to build their tourist image on a dubious reputation for laxity and permissiveness. It puts tourists at risk - and also the entire industry.