Team Herald
PANJIM: There are conflicting media reports about the tourist footfalls in Goa in the peak season period.
While some have put out social media posts that the roads and beaches of the State, a premier destination, are empty; others say this is a lie and that there is no shortfall in tourists for the Christmas and New Year season. Are the tourists really preferring other South Asian destinations? What is the truth? We asked tourism stakeholders to clear the air.
Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) president Jack Sukhija said, “Things have changed from normal. From December 18 there were a lot of bookings, and the season was looking good, but after December 18, there was no pick-up in business during Christmas and New Year. So turnout compared to what used to be normally a full house or overbooked has not been as expected. It is also a learning for us to see how we address this in the future. Overall Christmas and New Year was not as great as it used to be. The business was 15 to 30 per cent down depending on the category of hotels.”
According to Sukhija, the reasons could be that many countries are competing for Indian tourists. Also, between 2020 and 2023, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, people were not travelling, and now South East Asian countries like Thailand, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka have targeted Indian tourists in a very focused manner, and they are offering better value as a foreign destination for tourists.
He said that hotel rates were high in the State but were corrected later when it was found that the business was not picking up. But still, people did not come as expected. Also, there are long-term issues that the government needs to address, although this was not specifically an issue for the drop in tourists.
“We have an issue where we do not have technology in transport, we do not have a choice in transport, and we need to have technology because all over the world people are used to it. We need to tackle touting in a serious manner and show the positive side of Goa,” said Sukhija.
Former TTAG president Nilesh Rane said, “There is a drop in tourist arrivals in the State this year, though hotel pricing was rationalised compared to last year. Airlines have been selling tickets high and, realising that there was no pick-up, they too reduced fares, but it was too late. Tourists plan in advance, knowing that the pricing will be high. But business did not pick up, and there could be various reasons for it. The airlines have realised that pricing has to be competitive throughout the year, and it cannot be hiked in December. Similarly, hoteliers have also rationalised rates, looking at the overall market scenario. There was also competition within the country, wherein Rajasthan was rated as the costliest State when Goa was considered costly. Besides, there is competition from neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka and Thailand, which have opened in a big way for tourists. Malaysia is also offering e-Visa for tourists.”
Aloo Gomes Pereira said, “As a travel agent, the tourist turnover was okay. But I heard from hoteliers that it was not the best Christmas this year. The New Year has started, but what they have to do is drop the rates because they are not getting business. For a fact, somewhere in the first week of December 2024, we had requested room bookings as we were expecting cruise passengers from Europe. We wanted 800 to 900 rooms for New Year, i.e. from December 31 to January 6. But to our bad luck, it got cancelled and postponed to January 4. The bookings we had received were not the largest, but still, there is time, and we hope for more bookings.”
According to former Margao chairperson Savio Coutinho, the government with a brute majority thinks that people are happy. But the way the beauty of Goa is spoiled, the future appears bleak. Many people connected with the hotel industry have expressed their concern over the decline in tourist arrivals, and the main reason for this is that the beauty of Goa is getting destroyed.