JULIAN D’CRUZ
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
PANJIM: Sunburn, Goa’s hot and happening year-end mega event, has sent shock waves to tourism and entertainment industry stakeholders by alleging “harassment by government” in organizing the annual three-day event.
Herald has accessed a powerpoint communiqué complete with slide show and a letter sent to some key stakeholders in the tourism sector earlier this week detailing their disappointment at the treatment meted out by the government, and especially the Tourism department, to the event. So much so, that Sunburn may no longer be viable in Goa. The organizers of Sunburn, Percept Entertainment (an event management company), have sent the communiqué to MD, Goa Tourism Development Corporation and Director Tourism, Nikhil Desai, the TTAG and select stakeholders. They are also likely to take up the matter with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.
The communiqué has criticized what it terms the “last-minute fees” charged and has taken the position that “(the event) having suffered losses, the fee of Rs 1 crore should be refunded… It’s really sad the way things are working with tourism, no one seems to be of any help,” Percept has stated. “This fee was never discussed before and there was no benchmark for it so we couldn’t plan for nor had a provision for it,” reads their note. ‘The fee charged is unprecedented and has severely hit our financials casting a serious doubt on the viability of the project and its future,” reads the note, clearly putting the future of event in doubt.
In a not-so-veiled attack on Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar, the communiqué alleges that “the present government of Goa destroyed not just the reputation of Sunburn, but of the State as a whole…. the tourism ministry created so much of controversy on the venue and location that it dissuaded tourists and regular participants from coming to the event.”
The note is severely critical of what it calls the “insensitive attitude of the government to the event which could have drawn millions of international tourists” (but) who failed to turn up on account of the “poor signals” sent out by the government. The communiqué claims that the delay in permissions for promoting the event meant that promotions and sale of tickets began only in November. It alleges that the stream of negative PR from government officials led many people to cancel their Sunburn/Goa plans.
The communiqué adds that while sale of pre-event tickets was down by 7 per cent compared to last year there was a huge increase of 173% in complimentary tickets compared to last year. “Last minute requests for complimentary tickets went completely unaccounted for. Due to last-minute pressure, printing of new type of tickets had to be undertaken without a wristband which led to lot of confusion and loopholes,” reads the note. The communiqué alleges that a lot of the complimentary tickets ended up being sold outside the venue at hugely discounted prices. “Caught over 50 people selling complimentary tickets outside the venue… All seized tickets that were being sold were from the complimentary quota,” the Percept note adds.
The organizers also claim that there was a 39.5 per cent reduction in box office sales compared to last year. The communiqué also points out that the “quality of the crowd suffered” due to the large number of complimentary tickets which led to a totally different environment compared to the usual “Sunburn vibe”.
That there was reportedly a reduction of 11.7 per cent in F&B consumption is another point raised. “Bar tenders were forced to give free drinks to locals who were on special, single-entry tickets hence the overall numbers did not reflect in the F&B revenue,” the note adds.
In essence, the organizers have said that their revenues were hit because of the low ticket sale, lower F&B sales and last-minute demand for a fee payment to the Goa Tourism. While some in government speculated that this communiqué could be a ploy to evade paying all the taxes due by the organizers, especially in the wake of media reports that the government did not collect the quantum of entertainment tax it was supposed to last year causing the public exchequer a loss of many crores of rupees. All officials spoken to for their reaction refused to speak on-record but admitted that the communiqué and the points it raised was “very damaging”. Neither the Goa tourism minister nor the tourism director took this reporter’s calls despite repeated attempts to elicit their reaction.
The organizers with other stakeholders are likely to meet the government and impress upon it the “importance of the event to Goa, especially as it draws more than 80 per cent of its audience from outside the State. Thus, Sunburn is a huge tourism revenue-booster for Goa, is their argument. “The event ensures an extended stay from December 26 till at least January 1, getting tourists in the usually lull post-Christmas period of December 26 to December 29.”
