Industry
as we know it is in the dumps. And yes, tourism in the dumps too. No one is
coming or is expected to come for a while. This means one would have to come up
with something really innovative to catch the attention and more importantly
motivate the customer to look at them with interest. The island of Sicily in
Italy has come up with something innovative to excite everyone. The regional
government has offered to pay half the price of tourists’ plane tickets, as
well as pay for one in three of their night stays at a hotel. In addition,
tourists can visit museums and archaeological sites free. Interested tourists
can avail of such vouchers from the island’s tourism website. Mama Mia
you say, certainly, why not. It is a very competitive market undoubtedly and
everyone will be jostling for space. What about Goa? What is it willing to do
to attract the elusive tourist? Are they willing to come up with a scheme to
ensure the season will be a satisfactory one?
Like
anywhere in India such a situation excites much discussion and debate. The
President of the TTAG, Savio Messias was categorical when he said “Goa has to
definitely start working on a marketing plan. Other countries have already
started in fact Sri Lanka has already released videos which have bene released
on WhatsApp. Everyone is already working very hard. I don’t know if we have a
tourism minister. Where is he?” He said the industry was not getting any kind
of benefit. The Economic Revival Committee should he said help them with some
relief. Nothing, he said had been discussed. Savio said “We are Corona free,
not a single death and we need to highlight this. But nothing is moving. The
tourism minister seems least concerned about whatever that is happening in the
state”. Strong words there undoubtedly. For IT wizkid, Jason Fernandes the
argument was very simple. He said “ Goa should not be open for travel until a
vaccine or cure for the virus is found. That said, Goa has long needed to do a
better of job of competing with other domestic destinations like Gokarna or
even international alternatives like Thailand, Vietnam and Bali. It’s
common knowledge in the tourist belt that every season seems to be worse than
the last and increasingly travellers are choosing to skip Goa due to high
prices and poor service. I don’t think the Sicily model is needed in Goa, I
think many foreign tourists are not looking for ultra-budget options, they just
want value. Gimmicks are not what’s needed. Goa should focus on improving the
public travel infrastructure, developing new activities/attractions for
tourists and improving the quality of existing heritage sites. The launch of
app-based taxi services in the state is a great step forward but more needs to
be done to make Goa a more attractive destination and encourage return
visits”. Another reaction came from Bharat Kamat who felt that economic
activity had to start. He said “ Tourism is Goa’s life and strict measures have
to be put in place to restart. Social distancing and face masks are a must.
Temperature of tourists and staff has to be monitored. Above age 55
people should not be allowed, similarly people with ailments should not travel.
Training and briefing of staff have to be regularly done. Hygiene levels have
to be upped and vigilance increased”. Avelino De Sa felt the tourism industry
should provide attractive packages to promote tourism but the government should
not subsidize it because it just did not have the money to do so. Carlos
Ferreira the legal luminary said it was just not the time to initiate such moves
because no one was sure if the virus had been contained. Life he said had to
take precedence over economics.
It remains to be seen what
really happens in an industry that has not marked itself as one that takes
decisive decisions fast.
