It is November and this the time when the
airport is buzzing with flights flying in from Russia, Kazakhstan and the UK.
It is a very important business with the UK and Russia accounting for ninety
percent of that market. The virus has ensured that all of it has to stop.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has stopped issuing visas and slots for charters
have not been given. This throws the entire business upside down.
Charles Bonafacio a former President of TTAG
said it was a reality all the smaller hotels in the state depended on
charters. He said “The 2 and 3 star hotels are now reluctant to even
start. Charters are not even given slots or visas. Many will be close down and
are generally staring at a bleak situation. We were looking at a good
season. Now London is under a lockdown and the same holds true for Europe” Most
of Goa’s clients he said came from London and Russia and the segment that
travelled here would not be able to make it this year. He said “Charter would start
by Oct 15 till end of March or April. Now Oct is over, November and December
will be the same. Slots have not been allocated. People abroad know we are open
but we still have no sops in place. If a guest from the UK comes with a note
saying, he does not have to be checked here, how do we deal with that. We need
to be prepared well in advance for foreign tourists. Most hotels don’t want to
be open till March if there are no charters. 5 stars are doing well with
weekend packages but overall the situation is gloomy. The government has to
give some incentives, some moratorium for loans, something needs to be done
otherwise it is going to be very bad”.
Nilesh Shah the President of the TTAG said a
letter had gone from the CM office in September to the centre and they had been
following up regularly. Hoteliers, he said had also spoken to the authorities
in civil aviation. The second wave which was now on in London had resulted in a
total lockdown. The number of cases in Russia too was increasing too and he hoped
charters would be able to start in January. He said there were around
4000 plus recognised hotels but just 1000 had opened meaning just 23,000 rooms
were available in the market. No charters would mean those hotels would not
open with the loses being huge. Last year, he said was marked by a drop in the
number of charter flights to 625 from 813 the previous season. This meant
1,69,142 tourists landed in Goa and the season was helped largely by the
domestic market. He said “These visitors stay in 2 and 3 star hotels with a few
in 4 and an even smaller number in 5 star properties. For the five star may be
20 percent of their business comes from this segment.”
Sheikh Ismail who heads a travel agency that
deals with charters said nothing had moved till date. The authorities, he said
believed nothing would move till November 30th. He said “The Russians are keen
and we had around 100 booking overall but everything has been cancelled. Once
everything falls into place we will get a minimum of 300-400 bookings a day. We
usually bring in between 43to 49,000 tourists per season only from Russia,
Ukraine and Kazakhistan”.
Verner da costa Farias who owns a star property
in Calangute said he had to endure as he put it crazy cancellations. He said
“My hotels had booking for November and December and now it has all been
cancelled. I had 25% cancelled this month and in January it looks like 40 %
will be cancelled due to charters not flying.” He bemoaned the fact that
nothing had moved despite the TTAG having talked to the authorities to allow
Russian charters. Verner said “There is no basic communication. No one knows,
who what when how, there is a lot of uncertainty. Rumors are now flying around
that a ban will be in place till April. If it is true then that will be the
death knell. We are now also competing with five star properties who are now
selling at 3 star rates to attract the domestic market. We need the charters to
start by January. The Russians are ready to come but the English have confirmed
they will come next year in November or December. It is better to have the
Russians than nothing.”
Serafino Cota President of Small and Medium
Hotels Association said all the small hotels in the south without
exception were dependent on charters and they would suffer. Everyone he
said were looking to the next season and trying to stay positive. This would
have an effect on all ancillary businesses like rental bikes, restaurants and
alcohol. He said “The charter business is important to us, small and medium
sized hotels and the business generated every year is Rs 3000 crore which
sustains various facets of the economy. Now that has collapsed. I will be
surprised if we generate even Rs 100 crore this season. That gives you an idea
of the state of affairs. The tax earned by the state was easily in the region
of Rs 1600 crore but this year; your guess is as good as mine.”
One can only hope the domestic tourists come in
very large numbers and generate adequate business otherwise it looks very dark.
