PANJIM: The drop in tourists has led to beach shack owners fearing that they may have to close down operations from January itself. President of Shack Owners Welfare Society Cruz Cardozo has attributed the decline in the arrival of international and domestic tourists as one of the reasons for this.
Cardozo claimed that based on the feedback he has been receiving from several shack owners about poor response from tourists, there exists the possibility that they might have to shut down businesses in the second half of January.
“Shacks may close down after January 15. We have no customers all over Goa. There has been a decline of nearly 60 per cent in the tourist arrivals,” he said.
Expensive tourist visas, fall in the Russian currency and filthy beaches are other factors for poor tourist season this year, Cardozo said. “Where are the beach-cleaning contractors? They don’t collect garbage until we call them,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of his other association members as well, he rued that despite hefty fees being paid to government in various forms, the State barely pays attention to their requirements. “We keep on paying different taxes to government but we get nothing in return. The latest example is having to pay Rs 10,000 for 20 beach beds in each shack. We can’t afford that,” he said, adding that the association will submit a memorandum to the government on Tuesday, demanding to roll back the fees.
President of the Private Beach Shack Owners Association Dharmesh Saglani echoed similar sentiments saying that the government needs to form a policy, taking into confidence all tourism stakeholders. He demanded that government should relax the taxes.
“Government should sit with the tourism stakeholders, take them into confidence during any decision making process and then form a policy,” he suggested. Saglani went on to say that the government should adopt a single window system while granting licences to shack owners as obtaining permission from each concerned department consumes time, which ultimately affects the business.
“Just like electronic dance music festivals, government should have single window clearances for shacks also. We apply for permissions to each department, it takes five-to-six days. By the time we get permission, tourism season begins. Setting up shacks takes at least two weeks. We lose at least one month of business while completing all these processes,” Saglani complained.
The shack owners also demanded that the process for obtaining permission through a single window should begin in May as this would help them get customers, who book their stay in Goa months in advance. “Until last year, we had minimum 50 per cent bookings and the rest on walk-ins. But this year, we hardly have any bookings after January 15,” he said.
