Govind Simepurushkar of Blackies Heaven,
a company that takes tourists out on the river, was getting ready for a busy
season ahead even after the current one came to a close. His boat rides in
North Goa are very popular and with his allied tourism linked businesses,
Simepurushkar or Blackie, as he is known in the belt, is now staring into the
abyss, with each of his tourism linked businesses, boating, water sports, and
even restaurants literally sunk.
Clearly, what the Tsunami couldn’t
do, the virus has done for those who live and work in Goa’s coastal belts. It’s
an invisible storm that all their expertise in living by and working at sea
The well known and very jovial
Blackie has lost his smile and said “We have collapsed, we are now like fish
without water. We used to earn very well every day and now this. It is a really
sad state of affairs and we have not heard anything as to when we can start
functioning again.”
The tourism industry in Goa has
been experiencing rough currents for a while now. The collapse of Thomas Cook
put paid to the hopes of many English tourists who were looking forward to a
holiday in the warmer climes of Goa. Then to make matters worse the Coronavirus
swept everyone in its wake.
If that is the state of that
industry then the effect on companies organising walking tours have been
devastating. Cleophas Caiado, who runs a company that organises walking tours,
said “We are now jobless till December for sure. I used to depend on the charter
business but the collapse of Thomas Cook put paid to that. Now, this virus has
been devastating. The foreign tourists would come in large numbers for these
tours. In a year we would have about 1000 or 2000 clients including individuals
or groups using our services. Even when this ends no one will have the money to
spend and the inclination to travel beyond one’s borders. Then how will people
like us survive.”
Another company in the heritage
walk segment called Walk With History Goa run by Puja Mapxencar said they had
stopped tours in the first week of March. She said “We had tours every day to
old Goa, Chandor and few other places and we would take 4-6 people per walk.
The rates started at Rs. 950 per person and could increase. Now, all that has
stopped and we are sitting and waiting for some good news”.
Perhaps nothing signifies tourism
in the state than the shack on the beach. Roy Barreto of Betty’s shack shut in
the Mobor to Cavellosim belt, down on March 18. He said “We were depending on
the English tourist and everyone knows what happened. I also have boats and
tourists would come from the north for the boat rids but now everything has
collapsed. I have 25 boys to look after. The Panchayat is giving us groceries
but only for the family saying they will only help voters. I have stock so I
can ensure the boys don’t sleep hungry. I hope the trains start soon so that
the boys can leave. I have no idea how long this will take”.
Savio Messias, President TTAG has
seen a lot in all his years in the tourism industry. He, however, struggled to
explain it all by just saying “Everything is at a standstill everyone is
affected. Things are not going to improve fast. Even if Goa does, it will have
to hope the rest of the country does too so that domestic tourists will start
coming to Goa. If the foreign tourists have to come the economic scenario has
to improve otherwise, we will not have guests coming here. Then there will also
be that sense of apprehension about going to foreign lands. Thankfully the
virus came towards the end of the season. Hopefully, when the next season comes
things will have settled down. We will have to start working on it during the
monsoons itself”.
One can only hope an antidote is
developed to cure those afflicted by this virus.
But there’s no antidote to those
who are suffering collateral damage, like tourism stakeholders of Goa, each
needing intensive care to take them out of this financial pandemic.
