PANJIM: While the government talks of good local tourist footfalls and an increase in FIT tourists since the visa on arrival facility started, the tourism industry claims that the drop in local tourists could be as much as 20-25 per cent to be added to the drop of 30 per cent from the charter business.
Hotelier and former Travel and Tourism Association of Goa president Gaurish Dhond stresses that this year local tourist figures in December dipped by almost 20-25 per cent.
“A drop in local tourists is there. This time they have come only for a day or two. There are lots of reasons for this – Goa is costlier overall. It has costlier rooms, tickets are expensive (both flight and bus), internal transportation is expensive. Events are also expensive,” Dhond said.
According to TTAG insiders, Indian tourist favoured other states or even countries over Goa as trips to Dubai and Malaysia came cheaper than a holiday in Goa taking into account flight tickets and hotel tariffs. The government agreed to an extent.
“The season was normal till November. In December there was a drop due to charters being cancelled. But absolute numbers are up, though the concentration is on certain weekends,” Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) MD Nikhil Dessai told Herald. He said that this year there could be well above 40 lakh tourists visiting Goa, including those who came for the exposition. “These are figures from airports, railways and entry toll figures,” he said.
“Absolute numbers are up but there is weekday dip. So there is less revenue for hotels,” Dessai admitted, even as he acknowledges that industry has suffered.
“The concern for Goa is that they are coming for weekends. In between there is a dip. This is because our dependence has been too much on leisure tourists,” Dessai said. “I call this a temporary setback. It is time to introspect. We should look within and beyond. We are earmarking places for theme parks, etc both industry and government. In 2015 lot of services will see light of day.”
Dessai said, “Other markets have to be tapped as markets mature over a period of time. Efforts have to be made by industry to open doors to tourists others than Russia. Like Germany.” He added that they are upgrading the tourism infrastructure to attract more business tourists who come during weekdays.
