COVID deadlock ties Goa’s wedding sector in knots

When Pranesh Shah an investment manager decided to get married to his childhood sweetheart Komal Gandhi, he decided he would get married in Goa on the beach.  Goa in November on the beach is an experience unmatched in any other part of the country. The virus however put paid to their plans and now they are contemplating delaying their marriage till a time when a vaccine is developed to stop the march of the virus. Like this couple there are several others in the country who are facing a dilemma. Goa is one of the more important marriage destinations in the country and it earns a great deal of money for the industry.           
Maxim Fernandes a wedding planner said business had slumped when compared to last year. He said “Everything is now on a smaller scale in terms of the numbers of guests and the budgets as well. The clients are now not willing to spend large amounts of money on set ups. They bargain much more and the number of days over which the wedding is conducted has also reduced. The guest list includes relatives and close friends. I hope we get some business this season because as of now we have no bookings.”
Jerry Pinto another planner said the weddings were subject to muhurat dates and the business was generally getting rebooted thanks to the virus. He said “Muhurut dates are available from November 24 –December 14,15. There is nothing after that.  We are struggling as an entity. We are trying to encourage people to come to Goa to get married and they have decided to increase rates. If you want to get married on the beach the government used to charge you Rs 10,000 per day for but now that has been increased to Rs 50,000. The tourism license is still Rs 15,000. We need two days to set up the structure and that means Rs 1 lakh as fees. Kovalam does not charge anything for beach weddings. Clients are squeezing us for pricing. There is no labour available in Goa and those who are still here have increased their rates to Rs 700-800. This season is looking really bad.  Where is business going to come, I don’t really know.”
Seby Godinho said that before the pandemic they had confirmed bookings which have all been postponed. Some of the weddings where in November and have now been postponed to September or October next year. He laughed and said business was so bad he did not know what to do.
Lyndon Alves said there were a few small weddings taking place but the increase in the crz tax had made it very difficult. All the taxes included would require the party paying around Rs 2 lakhs and he said such parties were just not coming to Goa now. He said “Small intimate weddings are taking place in bungalows where the budgets are equal to a large outdoor wedding. We have people who are spending Rs 1.5 lakhs a day. The fancy weddings will have to wait till a vaccine is created because these people don’t want to expose their elderly relatives to any danger. When the vaccine is created the business will start booming again”.
Antonio Nunes who heads a band that is popular in the wedding circuit said business was really bad with all his clients postponing their weddings to 2022. He said “I refunded money to a client but the rest are all postponed. We get business from guests who attend the weddings and they hire us or recommend us but now everything has come to a standstill. Ninety percent of our bookings are postponed. It is a tough time”.
Vasquito Fernandes another musician was still hopeful business would come in the month of January. He said “All our gigs in November and December are postponed, some till 2022. Everyone is waiting for the vaccine. Now there is also the trend of people hiring the services of a one man band or even a DJ who will offer his services for Rs 15,000”. Bruno Sequeira a singer said he was sitting at home playing games online because all his bookings were either canceled or postponed.
Another segment affected by the virus is the five star properties in the state. R KS Kunde the GM of a property in the south said it was looking promising now and parties were contemplating coming to the state for weddings.  He said “We expect business to improve in November and December. It is just the beginning but a start has been made. There is a reduction of as much as 40 percent in terms of business when compared to last year. But now we can say revenue is coming in and salaries can be paid”.
Anand Chatterjee another GM said enquires were coming in and he expected small weddings would be held on the property in the month of January if everything fell into place.  
Zafar karmali Director of sales and marketing of a large hotel group said he expected business would improve and this was evident in the number of enquiries being entertained by the staff. But he said everything would depend on the availability of a vaccine which would give everyone the confidence to start travelling again.
Business may be bad due to the virus and the high taxes being levied but the attraction of Goa as a great wedding destination remains and that will be a source of great comfort to everyone in the industry.