In the run-up to the 2022 Assembly elections, expected in February next year, there have been a number of national party leaders who have landed in Goa to promote their parties and this, according to the Chief Minister, is good for the hotel and taxi businesses which had been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. He even went on to say that he wants more leaders of national political parties to visit Goa so that it boosts growth in tourism-centric businesses.
The Chief Minister’s comments led to the Leader of the Opposition saying that if listening to the sufferings of the people, respecting martyrs and addressing party workers is political tourism, his party leader will do it again and again. However much one may attempt to deride political tourism or create memes on it, the bottom line is that it could actually help the tourism industry and also related businesses that are suffering from the pandemic, and if they do then, political tourism may actually be welcomed by the industry that has been reeling under problems galore for close to two years.
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If looked at positively, political tourism is a stimulus to the economy. In that the chief minister is very correct. It may not be a huge incentive but it does make a difference. Though the chief minister’s statements were a jibe at the long list of politicians who have been descending upon Goa and more that are due to come in the weeks ahead – including from his own party – it is a fact that an election campaign in any place in the world has a direct positive bearing on the local economy, and Goa, after the long months of a slow-moving economy due to the pandemic could well do with such a boost. It even requires it.
Elections are known to boost a local economy as it results in increased spending by political parties and candidates. Money is spent on campaign meetings, printing of manifestoes and pamphlets, refreshments, creating temporary jobs in campaign offices, administrative expenses and also certain businesses related to electioneering, all of which lead to the injection of a lot of money into the local economy. What it further results in is increasing domestic spending, which infuses money into the market that is not necessarily related to elections and electioneering. Being of a very temporary nature and occurring once in five years, such an economic boost is often glossed over, but it does occur.
Visits of political leaders in the coming months up to the election date can be expected and at more frequent intervals than in the past weeks. The relevant question is whether Goa Tourism is prepared to provide the facilities that will be demanded from such ‘tourism’. Leaders on the campaign trail will have a very different set of demands from the industry. They will be here neither for conventional business nor for leisure. Their requirements will be far different from the normal. It is time, therefore that Goa Tourism and its myriad businesses gear up for this as for them it is an opportunity to recoup the losses of the past months.
Instead of looking at political tourism in the negative way, the industry in Goa may actually be able to take advantage of what will be happening in the State over the next three months. It is a short period, but in a period where foreign tourists are not coming and domestic tourism is also not at its height, it presents the opportunity to keep the accounts books in the blue.
