The Goa shining story, that needs to be told
Communication is the key to help Goa progress
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When asked to write on business, the first impulse is to talk about corruption or the lack of infrastructure or opportunity. However let us look at the example of Israel. Apparently despite the daily bombings and killings in Israel, the front page dedicates itself to positive news, the sad or gory details are consigned to inside pages.
Why not kick off on a positive note? Why not talk of the growth drivers that have acted as a catalyst for business? The three aspects that I believe have had a positive impact on Goa in general and business in particular are roads, air travel and telecom in the last few years.
Any visitor from another part of India cannot but comment positively on the state of the roads in Goa. Yes, we want better but what we have is far better than most parts of India. The State has added bypasses to avoid traffic cutting throughthe villages, this in turn has allowed widening of the roads. One major advantage of this is the reduction in accidents which were a common feature of the narrow roads.
The fact that one can travel between Margao and Panaji between 40-50 minutes despite the explosion of vehicles speaks volumes. The quality, of roads too have been by and large better almost throughout the year. For a nation resigned to the fact that every time the monsoons come our roads become lunar landscapes, Goa has indeed bucked the trend. Remo captured in song the telephone’s scenario in Goa with his song “Graham Bell you are dead and it is just as well, if you heard the phones in Goa you would jump into a well’. The mobile has permeated into every strata of goan society. Owning a telephone is no longer a status symbol. Broadband, last mile connectivity and more importantly, easy availability are givens today.
Flying out of Goa some years ago, was an ordeal. If you did get a flight out it meant a minimum of three days. One day to go as the flights were only in the afternoon, worked the next day and flew back the third day. The timings of flights meant you could do nothing on the travel days, and two hotel room nights were needed. Today, you can choose the type of airline – full service or budget. Do your work and be back in Goa by evening. If you need to go further say Delhi, you can be in Delhi by 11, catch a late flight to Mumbai and take the early morning flight to Goa. Voila! In 24 hrs you can do your work in Delhi and return. Not to mention the luxury of catching an international connection from Goa itself, saves you the trip to Mumbai, immigration customs etc. .
The Government cannot but notice the positive impact of improved communication on economic development and the fact that it has in many ways contributed to inclusive growth. Therefore while communication has improved, more can be done.
The improved road connectivity, backed with better public transport systems and the possibilities of improved or increased rail, bus and water connectivity should be explored. This will ensure people and produce in remote places can be transported easily, faster and more important cheaply.
Areas with less teledensity should be identified and all efforts made to ensure they are better connected either with stronger landline network or installation of towers to overcome geographical hurdles related to mobile connectivity.
The addition of a late evening flight from Mumbai/ Bangalore would surely increase productivity as currently due to traffic issues in these two cities, one has to stop work and head to the airport latest by 3 pm, earlier if you are in South Mumbai. Good communication, be it by road or telephone or air act as a catalyst for business, it drives business forward in geometrical proportions. With these improvements the business or economic development has been enormous. This in turn leads to inclusion of many who would otherwise be left out due to poor communications, especially those in more remote parts of the State.
Blaise Costabir, reluctant entrepreneur, now icon of Goa’s industry, made Shakti Water Tanks a success by thinking differently because he looked for a way when 500 well wishers felt there was none.
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This season will not have a happy ending
1992 was when Goa started booming and saw a slew of small hotels thanks to the return of Goans post the Gulf war. My job brought me to this beautiful land as manager of a tourism company. The charm of Goa coupled with the prospect of a booming future in tourism led me to stay on and I have happily been a part of Goa and its transformation.
2011 Unfortunately, whilst the rest of the beach destinations around the world have grown in leaps and bounds, Goa is still pondering over whether to concentrate on beach tourism, hinterland or backwater tourism!! This coupled with a host of allegations of murders, rapes, drug cartels & assorted mafias!
The number of rooms and room rates has not shown any notable increase as compared with our competition of beach destinations in the Mediterranean and rest of Asia. Being a charter destination, we need to be on par with the world on visa issuance, for which the local government must take it up with the centre!
Although tourism is one of the state’s largest revenue modules, the powers that be have not been able to do much, thanks to an inconsistent government and a local Russian Roulette with the tourism ministry and bureaucracy.
The purpose of this article is not to criticise the authorities, but to create awareness amongst the people due to whom this industry has survived.
We have been so used to non-functional governments, more occupied with saving itself than being able to truly churn anything productive. Problems like the taxi menace in the south have been going on for over a decade and there is still no permanent solution in sight!
We do not have a fire fighting mechanism to counter the adverse media
publicity for everything from rapes to mafias and drugs, things that are a
part of tourism worldwide, but in Goa we allow them to rule our lives and
reputations.
Priding ourselves on having one of the best coastlines in the country, we totally lack any world-class water tourism! Not a single tourist jetty exists in the state for water activities & tourists still only have the option of unsteady canoes! It’s practically impossible to get a tourist boat licence (thanks to the anarchic licence raj), but the new mantra is to build marinas costing crores of citizens money!
We need to have a vision, created by the leaders of the trade, the TTAG, hoteliers etc. for whom this success is more than holding on to a chair.
Let us join hands to stem the rot in the system! As a Goa lover, I will be highlighting these various individual issues on a regular basis, that have been strangulating Goa’s tourism. May better sense prevail…
Lyndon Alves, after years of gaining experience working all over the country, now lives in Goa and runs Sunset Getaways, one of the state’s leading companies in the tourism and event business.
