It’s the peak time of the tourism season. Christmas is here and the New Year is just five days away. The streets are illuminated and people are celebrating, but in the costal belt of North Goa the décor has not brought the hordes of tourists that usually came this season.
Compared to the last few years, the number of tourists in the North costal belt is quite low. A visit to Calangute and Baga on Christmas Eve saw beaches almost bereft of tourists, especially the foreign tourists, though there was sizeable number of domestic tourists, mostly youth and some adults.
Usually, the North tourist belt sees a rush of international visitors, however, this year it is groups of domestic tourist youth and adults on the streets and the beaches. Even though the prices of the hotel rooms were kept minimal, hotels did not have enough of bookings prior and even on Christmas Eve. Hotel rooms and restaurant tables could be seen vacant.
The tourism season began in October, but stakeholders say that the number of tourists has gone down and they have not been able to earn much this season. Their hope was the Christmas season.
With the number of tourists dropping this tourism season, hoteliers and shack owners claim that their business has gone down by almost 50 per cent compared to the last couple of years, especially where foreign tourists are concerned.
The electronic dance music festival, which will be hosted this weekend at Vagator, has given some hope to hoteliers here, since booking has been done, as the New Year is not expected to happening.
An hotelier said, “The entire season is down. Christmas Eve is also not happening, however the Sunburn event, which will be hosted this weekend, has got us some bookings. However, for New Year the situation is bad.”
Shack owners from Pernem coastal area are also having a bad time as they claim that they have paid fees to the government however it’s difficult to make it up since they do not cross even 10,000 a day even on weekend.
