“As I landed in Goa, I was greeted by a sight that no tourist would want to see – empty ATMs,” Nitye Sood, a filmmaker based in Amritsar said. Love for feni and the buzz around the coastal State brings Sood to Goa every tourist season but the current scene in the State has been appalling, just like in many other parts of the country.
His New Year celebration was quite dull compared to his past experience. “As the New Year rolled in, demonetisation surpassed all other issues on the minds of Indians. While for a tourist like me empty ATMs are a minor inconvenience, for many this drive has had a significant impact on their lives,” he said as he packed his luggage to travel back home.
Close to two months since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation, tourism in Goa witnessed a sharp decline primarily due to less spending by the visitors. Rajesh Gandhi, a Delhiite also explained the sordid tale of his trip to the popular tourist hub. Like many others, he too curtailed his stay owing to cash crunch.
“I could afford to spend only Christmas with my family because the longer our vacation would be, the more cash was required. Cashless concept is still to catch up in Goa,” he said. The Gandhi family returned to their hometown on December 28 against their wishes as they earlier planned to spend vacation till the New Year.
Scrapping of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 has unarguably cast its gloomy shadow on the once highest generating revenue industry, which was looked upon as a saviour after the closure of mining in September 2012. The onset of winter travel was certainly marred by demonetisation as stakeholders too were largely affected.
Guesthouses earned good revenue as it catered to a large group of middle class tourists and those who failed to get bookings in starred hotels. Although the coastline did see visitors during the last few days of 2016 it was not impressive as last year.
While earnings of some resorts too saw a decline, the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) owned residencies did see a good response.
“The business is dull and tourist season is yet to end… While advance bookings continued as payments were made online, on-the-spot bookings have seen a significant downfall,” an hotelier said.
“People have begun saving cash than swiping cards. We noticed that their spending has considerably lessened this time of the year… They want to save cash for any emergency,” Wahid Bukhari, a Kashmiri youth said. Bukhari, proprietor of a store selling exclusive Kashmiri products at the Candolim belt, said he was forced negotiate with visitors.
“There are apprehensions in the minds of many to swipe cards. I had to agree to some tourists when they negotiated to buy some products at a lesser price. It is better to earn something than nothing,” he reacted.
“I understand that tourists need to carry some cash while they are on their way back home. We have faced loss but can’t see our visitors upset,” a shack owner Vinayak Naik said.
The beach side shacks are also affected as president of Shack Owners’ Welfare Society, Cruz Cardozo estimates a loss of over 60 percent business compared to last tourist season. Absence of Point of Sales (PoS) machines has also played a spoilsport and adding to the woes is poor connectivity.
“There is only around 10-20 percent shack operators using PoS machines, the remaining are awaiting response from the concerned banks for its availability. Those currently using these machines have complained of poor connectivity with servers. Many a times, the device gets hanged,” he rued.
All Goa Private Shack Owners’ Association president Dharmesh Saglani said that tourists have begun routing to Sri Lanka and Thailand.
“There is either no PoS machines or poor network connection. How do we conduct the business? The New Year celebration was also dull compared to last few years and the flow of domestic tourists wasn’t as much as previous years,” he said.
Similarly, taxi operators among other stakeholders echoed similar views. The North Goa Tourist Taxi Association’s Vinayak Nanoskar said that many passengers do not have the change as a result of which they lose passengers.
