05 Dec 2020  |   04:37am IST

COVID post truth: Goa's events industry is staring at a loss of upto Rs 500 crores

The month of November and December used to be packed with major events that brought in great revenue for events management industries and ancillary business in Goa. That has all now come to an absolute standstill. The guestimate of Rs 500 cr liss this season based on events cancelled or downsized borne by known players isn't far off the mark

Ajit John

The lights have certainly dimmed and the music is no longer playing. The dogs the cats are ambling around the empty ground where large events were held every year in November or December.  This year the virus has ensured a complete lockdown. A bike week will not happen or for that matter a show that would feature DJs from all over the world. This will have serious consequences on the event management business as well as the ancillary business that services it.

Serrao Francis a major player in the event management industry in Goa said many resorts had opened and was packed on weekends with 90-100 percent occupancy but they were still not able to cover operating costs. He said “We have also started because we have to support the business but we are not even ten percent of what we usually do. Everything is down. Corporate events, conferences, weddings are all down. Last year we did around Rs 8-10 crore in billing but I will be lucky if we touch even Rs 2 crore”.

He cited the example of a major branded hotel in the north which he said would not recover its operating cost in November or December because there were no events happening. Guests, he said usually stayed in the hotel but with now everything down, it was difficult to cover costs. The decision by other states, Serrao said had affected Goa. He said, “We had a couple of weddings and events and now that has been canceled because they were based in Maharashtra.”

Parvez Sheikh the owner of another event management company said the company had shifted focus to weddings. He said “We used to provide assistance to the national agencies when they organized big events here in Goa, now all that has stopped. We are now busy four days a month due to weddings. Earlier it was around 15 days. Business-wise we cannot compare. We used to turn in billings of around Rs 60 lakhs in December but now it will drop by a minimum of fifty percent.  All our suppliers are also struggling. It is bad all-round. We have cut expenses and balancing and hoping that once the vaccines come in, the sentiment will improve. ” 

Pooja Ghotage Sitani said the virus had hit the business very hard but intimate weddings were still happening. She said “The fact international borders are shut has helped business with many of them flying down to Goa. Yes, the big events are not happening this year in Goa and it is bad but for us who focus on weddings, we are seeing an opening for the industry”.

Craig Saldanha Managing Partner of an event management company said earlier around 20-30 events would take place during this time of the year and that had been now reduced to zero. He said, “The last corporate event we did was in February”. The loss he said was around Rs 3.5 crore this year and there were around 30 companies his size in Goa which could give everyone an idea of the kind of losses. He said “I am willing to hazard a guess and say that for the event management companies the loss is around Rs 500 crore and this is just the primary event vendors. We are not talking about the people who provide the pandals, the chairs, the technical lights, those who do the stages and the mega structures.”

One can only hope for the best and the vaccine it seems could be the magic pill for the industry.