While
the 2015 year-end was better than the disaster that 2014 was, with regards to
business made by hospitality based establishments, Goa has stepped into a new
year in a slightly modest fashion as compared to 2015. Almost every restaurant
had a few tricks up its sleeve to cash in on the peak tourist season by
planning events and other engagement activities to attract as many visitors as
possible. And then the demonetisation process struck. While the phenomenon
shook the hospitality industry to a large extent, some managed to recover from
the tremors by going ahead with their plans in a bid to salvage their
businesses from having a disastrous season.
Many
feel that in Goa, business reaches its peak from December 19 to January 5 and
then begins to taper off. Poonam Singh, partner, Mustard, in Sangolda says, “Even
earlier, 60-70% of our transactions were by credit card, so ideally,
demonetisation shouldn’t have impacted us, but we see that people are more
thrifty now. We can tell by the difference in reservations.” However Singh’s
projections for 2017 look better, thanks to 14 long weekends in the calendar.
Singh says, “We’re hoping that some of the money comes back but it’s difficult
to say right now what it will be like in 2017.”
Local
Beach Bar, housed in O Hotel in Candolim, threw its doors open for the season
in December. Prathap Reddy, one of the directors of the property, is happy that
they have entered the market in a year when domestic tourism has proven to be
the backbone of the season. Reddy says, “We realise that addressing the needs
of the Indian consumer is similar in Goa as in any other location. However, the
general behaviour of the consumer has been to spend relatively lesser. With the
new year kicking in and the effect of currency hold releasing, we expect to see
a surge in the spending abilities of the people. The tourist season should see
some positive movement going ahead.”
While
most people frown at the sight of domestic tourists for reasons more than one,
and expect international tourists to visit Goa in big numbers, some
stakeholders of the hospitality industry feel that this mentality is what has
hurt Goa the most. Reynold Abranches, Proprietor, Soul Souffle, feels that the
hospitality industry in Goa, in an attempt to attract international tourists,
has ended up becoming very expensive, thereby keeping away domestic tourists as
well. Abranches says, “I think the concept of season is something that Goa
should do away with. There is no ‘season’ left in Goa, especially with regards
to international tourists. Goa should instead focus a little more on the
domestic charter market, weddings, conferences and holidaymakers that are
inbound, rather than foreign tourists.”
Naturally,
owners of business establishments are planning to continue with their respective
signature events that attract locals as well as tourists. Singh firmly believes
that no business can survive by relying on just one week of sales. She says,
“We will continue to have live music events on Wednesday and Saturday evenings.
The pie may have shrunk but we still need to put in our energies to get a large
slice of it.” Abranches nods in agreement too, and says, “We’ve got our
‘Flashback Fridays’ where we have some of South Goa’s best bands showcased
alongside talented DJs and a pop-up market. The response has been great so far
and we would love to see more if it.”
