Hotel industry hopes the fest will bring in tourists
TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The five-day Food and Cultural festival 2014 gets underway today, February 28, raising the pitch ahead of the Carnival festivities which commences on March 1. This is the second consecutive year that the tourism department is organizing the food festival ahead of Carnival.
Dance acrobats by Darryl and Raquel, live music by Varun Carvalho and performances by Agnee will feature as part of first day’s performances. Performances by Lorna, Alcatrazz, Bollywood dancers have been lined up as part of the festivities. For the first time the five-day food festival is being organized at the new venue at Merces grounds and performances begin from 6.15 pm.
While the tourism department is upbeat, there is gloom over the State’s hotel industry after the two-day stir by taxi operators sent out wrong signals across the country and the globe.
One leading travel and tour operator has recorded 131 cancellations of bookings from the international market while many other hoteliers are keeping their fingers crossed whether foreign and domestic tourists will turn up on Saturday.
