Team Herald
PANJIIM: A significant drop in Russian tourists that once constituted nearly 50 percent of foreign arrivals in the State, indicates their popular enclaves in the northernmost coastal stretch could further dwindle this ongoing season.
Nearly one decade after witnessing a steady growth of Russian-speaking citizens, Goa suffers a noticeable drop in both — their numbers and revenue — owing to devaluation of Rouble and negative publicity. The State however eyes Russia’s tourism ban in Egypt and Turkey to boost their arrivals to this coastal State.
According to a statement by First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of the Russian Federation Ivan Melnikov, “We believe the right to organize in the near future ‘round table’ with representatives of travel business professionals, airlines and official delegates of some friendly countries in order together to consider how to make a cheap holiday for Russian tourists in the States, where the atmosphere for Russian is homely.”
Their most preferred beach villages like Morjim, Arambol and Ashwem wear a deserted look. With Goa not on their priority list anymore, the presence of international-bound tourists is certain to diminish further.
The only relief for the Goans would be that their presence at Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar’s constituency, Morjim, will no more dominate. This however raises apprehensions whether tourism-related businesses would survive as British nationals have already abandoned Goa. Thousands of Russians had made Morjim, tagged as ‘little Russia’ their second home.
“Most of my customers are foreign nationals, of whom a majority are Russians. Our business was at its peak until their arrivals dropped in the last two years. The situation has not changed this season too but we hope it changes for better in Dec-Jan,” Anthony Lewis, proprietor of a shack at Morjim told Herald.
Russians, preferring to bask in sunny Goa than live in freezing Russia during these months had more than 200 living here on business visas. Nearly half the commercial properties were operated by Russians in partnership with the locals.
“Their businesses certainly affected us but many travelling on tourist visas would drop in to our outlets. We had repeated customers and hundreds of new customers every year. The last seasons have been bad,” Mario Deniz, a beach shack operator said.
Highly-priced hotel stay or buying a temporary accommodation has cost the State even more. Citing an example, he said that a room with sea view and air conditioning in Vietnam is worth Rs 700 while in Goa the same is not less than Rs 1,500.
A meagre 2.05 lakh Russians visited India in the last tourist season ranking the country at 35th position.
“The falling number of Russians visiting Goa is visible. Reversing this trend is a challenge to be addressed by the Goa tourism industry,” legal advisor to the Russian Consulate Vikram Varma commented conceding that publicity and social media clearly impacts travel decisions.
