CANACONA: The southernmost taluka of Canacona, home to some of the best beaches in the world, is facing a low turnout of both domestic as well as foreign tourists this season. According to local hoteliers, normally during this time of the year all the available rooms and accommodation run full but this year the people in the tourism industry in Canacona are left worried as more than 50 percent of their rooms are still unoccupied.
When the Herald correspondent visited Agonda beach, which was adjudged as the best beach in Asia this year by travel website TripAdvisor, there were hardly any tourists.
The southern part of the beach had a few tourists while the northern side of the beach was totally empty. The sunbeds and restaurants were left unoccupied too. The general feeling was Agonda is getting bit expensive day by day.
“The rate is very critical at this time especially when this is the beginning of the peak period for tourist arrivals. Some of the resorts and hotels have only 30 per cent occupancy rate whereas the rest fall below that level,” a concerned accommodation provider said.
Ajay Bhagat, a politician and owner of an ancillary unit serving tourists, said that the low arrivals affected many people and it is a cause of concern because it involved more than 10,000 people who are directly or indirectly employed in the tourism sector in Canacona.
“This should be the beginning of the high peak season but instead, resorts and hotels have registered the lowest occupancy rate. I don’t know whether it is the global crisis or what” he said.
Palolem another world famous beach has also witnessed slump in business since last few years. There are hoards of domestic tourists, but few international tourists this year.
Stakeholders are of the view that domestic tourist who come in thousands at Palolem beach on Christmas and New Year’s eve hardly spend money and the real income comes from foreign tourists who are insignificant in number this season.
They also attributed the global economic recession as a cause for the low arrivals.
“This is not quite the peak season but numbers should slightly pick up during New Year. Bookings are really quite unpredictable,” a manager of a resort in Palolem said.
By Monday evening Palolem beach which is about 1.6 kms long was full with domestic tourists with a handful of foreigners.
Locals say that the domestic tourist buy liquor from wholesale dealers and the restaurant owners are left high and dry leaving their cash registers empty.
Another businessman from Patnem with worry wreath on his face said that he has invested lakhs of rupees and hoped to clear the loan and the credit he has taken from the market.
