Goa, like the rest of the world, has entered yet another new year and is in the middle of
the quintessential tourist season. New Year’s eve (NYE), the most expensive
time to be in Goa, is the time of the year for tourism stakeholders to milk the
cash cow and is also the annual report card of how good or bad the business has
been. Or so the trend was. The last quarter of the calendar year, a time when the
tourist season in Goa is said to pick up, has been slow in the last few years.
But does that mean that business has been bad? Business owners disagree.
For Parul Singh, a marketing professional from Mumbai, bringing
in the new year in Goa used to be an annual ritual, until last year. Singh
says, “The whole world knows that Goa is the most expensive in the month of
December. But contrary to the reality, most people think that Goa is
‘happening’ only around this time of the year. It makes more sense to avoid Goa
during December for more than one reason. Not only is it cheaper during other
months, it’s also less crowded.”
Rented two-wheelers, one of the USPs of Goa, now find takers
throughout the year. Save the last three days of December, one can rent an
ungeared bike for as little as Rs 300/day till December 27, and for as high as
Rs 2000 from December 27-31. Bappa Kalangutkar, a dealer of rented bikes in
Calangute, says, “Earlier, during other months of the year except December, we
used to be compelled to give the bikes for as little as Rs 200-250/day because
there were few takers, especially in the monsoons. Now, the rate is more or
less standardised at Rs 300 and there are customers across the year. Very
rarely do our bikes lay unused.”
Changing trends in the last few years have shown different
consumer behaviour and Goa has come to be known as an all year round tourist
destination. The Park, a boutique hotel in Calangute, for instance, has been
doing brisk business over the last six years of its existence and that has
prompted the management to open another property in Baga, which throws its
doors open in a few weeks. When asked about the current business trend, Saurabh
Khanna, General Manager, says, “One of the reasons why the last weekend of
December was not as good is because of the high number of long weekends in
2017. Contrary to the trend until a few years ago, now the business is spread
through the year, as opposed to being concentrated in Nov-Dec. People are
frequenting Goa during other times of the year and not necessarily only during
NYE.” Khanna adds that this has encouraged the management to relook at their
business strategy and has significantly influenced them to alter it. “Earlier,
business owners used to plan their business strategy around the festive period.
Now, it makes more sense to plan the business for the entire year and not only
the last quarter. For example, the monsoons in Goa too cater to a different
profile of tourists; there is enough business in the monsoons too,” he states.
There
were long weekends aplenty in 2017 and based on the article you read on social
media, there are anywhere between 8-13 long weekends in the current year. For a
Goa suffering from a parched tourist season, long weekends are the clouds it
needs to burst every now and then.
