Finally the curfew has officially ended in Goa and the new scenario will gradually make way for tourists and the allied industry to operate at pre pandemic levels, with no safeguards being built to protect the citizens of the place. During the period of the curfew most Goans had the good fortune to reclaim their land, beaches and food resources, but with tourism set to make a comeback, it will have a negative impact on the quality of life of a Goan, even if we are made to believe the opposite. Honestly, Goa has squandered an opportunity the pandemic had presented to reset its tourism policy and make it not only sustainable but also unproblematic on the local population.
But who is really going to take on tourism, changing policy cannot be done when ministers in the government have a stake in tourism. How naïve we Goans are that we tolerate such conflict of interest, which has a detrimental effect on the life of citizens that have decided to live in Goa. Goans must not forget the flare up Goa suffered during the second wave of the pandemic, as it was only because the government succumbed to the pressure internally from its own ministers and the industry to keep tourism business open even when cases were on the rise in other parts of the country at that time. To be fair the government seemed to have course corrected after the second wave and used a new term ‘curfew’ which effectively kept most business open except tourism and casinos, the results are there for everybody to see with smaller number of cases.
Agreed, tourism is important for the survival of the State, but Goans should not believe generalised comments from ministers or chair persons in charge of tourism, because their remarks could be biased due to the stake they hold in the industry. We need data on the table, not just a number of tourists that enter Goa. Data such as, how much does the government earn from tourism, what is the average revenue per tourist. There are many data points we should be asking the government but due to lack of space in this column let’s concentrate only on the above two.
Knowing how much government earns on tourism is important because then the expenditure it undertakes on tourism infrastructure can be justified to the people of Goa. For all you know we might be spending more than the present and future returns tourism will ever generate for the State. Does not mean we tax the hell out of the industry, but surely we need to strike a balance, because the more the tourists, the more the locals have to jostle for space and deal with supply side artificial inflation. It will also expose those pocketing the tourism revenue and creating a smoke screen that tourism is so very important for the survival of the State. Coming out with transparent data will at least tell us how the revenue generated through tourism is distributed. Who exactly eats the biggest share of the tourism windfall?
Talking of revenue, another data point Goans should be privy too is the average revenue per tourist, meaning how much does a tourist spend during his stay in Goa. So if you want to check the quality of tourism, just check this number, the higher the number will mean the quality of tourism is getting better. Also, because it takes the average revenue per tourist the government will be pressurised to reduce the number of tourists to boost the average. Not any easy number to compute but can be done with the help of professionals. Don’t expect the current bureaucrats in the government or the ministers to dish out the number, they could be plain lethargic, habituated in doing meaningless work or it could be simply beyond them to make such complex calculations.
Once we find out who really pockets the bigger share of tourism revenue that is generated in Goa, then we can really educate Goans to reap the benefits of tourists arriving in Goa. At the moment Goans are fighting for crumbs and pressure is being created only to regulate the down the line taxi operators while the cream is untouched. It is important Goans are given the opportunity to create revenue in tourism because it is their native place that is being exploited for commercial benefit. You cannot do commerce by sidelining the locals just by bribing their representatives; it will surely backfire someday once Goans figure out the math.
This pandemic induced curfew was really a good time to find out the intentions the government might have had to change the tourism strategy. Italy has been doing it and most of Europe will follow, they are limiting tourists so that they can enhance the experience of those who want to visit the place and discourage those that visit just to tick their bucket list.
Fly by night operators are invariably created in a booming sector and Goa is no exception, they smell an arbitrage opportunity in prices, pounce on it and are willing to shut shop at the drop of a hat, while making sure they pocket the difference. When too many fly by night operators dominate a sector the entire industry looks temporary and phony. We need long term players who will not only invest their monies but will also respect the Goan way of life which is the biggest attraction for tourist to arrive here, by the way. Goa needs to make that call, the pandemic has given Goa the opportunity to reset and steer the ship in a different direction.
The pandemic flare-up in cases forced Goa to go into a curfew, which in other words means restriction. If Goans can undergo restriction for the greater good why should tourists be given a free ride? It is time the government forces the tourism industry to discuss in the open an upper limit on tourists Goa can accommodate at a given time.
(The author is a business consultant)
