When access to destinations is denied, the destination itself suffers. Goa is facing the brunt of
this as the Corona Virus has grounded not just people but businesses which
depend on off shore events in Goa, primarily, Meetings, Incentives Conferences
and Exhibitions, collectively known as the MICE industry. Added to this is the
loss faced by wedding planners and allied professionals and vendors whose
business run because people tie the knot. Their economic futures ironically,
are now tied up in knots
One of the big players in the events business, Crosscraft has
earned a pretty penny organising some of the big events and weddings that were
held in the state over the past couple of years. Serrao Francis Socorro, MD,
was candid when he said, “The company has been very badly hit. We don’t know
what the next six months hold for us and people are getting worried. All the
weddings that we were meant to be handling have come through references and we
know the family, so there is no question of not returning the advances. We have
140 employees on very good salaries. We have to think about all this and ways
to tackle it in these tough times.”
Parvez Shaikh of Funky Heads Event Active was mournful when he
said all his events had been cancelled. Parvez said, “My brother’s wedding has
been cancelled. Hopefully all this will go on only till March 31. The problem
is that no one is willing to confirm the events. Everything is in flux. A
company that was destined to celebrate its twenty-five years in May has not
confirmed. An ebike meant to be launched by a local company this month has now
shifted to April and we don’t know anything on that count.
We were doing shows of Indian culture for Russian tourists, at a
popular nightclub in North Goa. We had a Russian compere, Russian food, the
whole works and we had bookings till April 15 and now everything is cancelled.
Perhaps now we have to look at the next season starting in October.” The
uncertainty in the market has forced him to reduce the number of people working
for him from fifty to twenty.
With the state of the general economy, it will take some time
for the people that have been laid off to get another job.
Shyam Haridas, who had an event management company, earlier said
the MICE industry had been very badly hit by a lot of cancellations. Big
conferences had been cancelled though a few small ones were still happening.
Another effect of this was that banqueting was very much affected. This, he
said, would ensure that balance sheets of the industry would be very poor.
Jerry Pinto of Buzz Events said he was in minus, because of all
the cancellations. Weddings, he said, were being postponed and corporates were
contemplating postponements but were also not committing dates or even a
timeline. Asked about possible staff redundancies, he said that would not
happen and the staff was now working on the backend to tie up loose ends.
The general tone amongst wedding planners and event management
companies was one of despair. Sam Coelho of Wedding Packages said with weddings
being cancelled, parties were now asking for a refund and it was now very tight
for everyone. The general feeling however was that in three months, it would
all improve.
If wedding planners and event management companies have been
feeling the rough end of the stick then the hotels had have had it worse. The
south of Goa has established itself as a centre for MICE and weddings.
Occupancy has dropped dramatically and phone calls announcing the cancellation
of events have been happening regularly. Prasad Kanoth, GM, Caravela Beach
Resort, said, “Business has dropped badly from last week. We were going at 85
%-90% and now it has dropped to 40% and it is expected to drop even further.
The conferences we were scheduled to hold have all been cancelled. No weddings
are being held in the hotel and so you can imagine our condition.”
The effect on the bottom line has been devastating. Shiwam Verma
GM, Royal Orchid Hotels, said the group had lost Rs. 1.7 crores in the four
properties owned by the group. He said, “We were expecting eighty percent
occupancy and now we are at fifteen percent, so you can imagine our condition.
The MICE business has collapsed. Eight conferences scheduled for March and
April have been cancelled.” Anand Chatterjee, GM, Planet Hollywood Beach
Resort, said the business was highly affected with all the cancellations and
the hotel was now focussed on maintenance and renovations.
Perhaps the sentiment of the industry can be summed by the GM of
a property who did not want to come on record. He laughed bitterly and said,
“We are all beggars now and out on the streets. It is a very tough situation
now and we really don’t know how long this situation will continue.”
Goa
will hope the situation improves fast because the economy is presently in the
dumps and a continuation of this situation could cause other unforeseen
problems.
