Kaushalya Kattimani, a small-time vegetable vendor who sits with her veggies and fruits on a side of approach road to Mandovi bridge, hoping to find a customer for the produce.
However, her wait just does not seem to end ever since November 8, when Prime Minister Modi announced the decision which took almost all the citizens of India by surprise.
Kaushalya says, she made a business of over Rs 1000 everyday prior to announcement but that has dropped down to just few hundreds.
According to her, many a times she has to dispose off fruits and vegetables since they are perishable products and faced losses.
“Many people come but the business is not like before. Out of 10 customers at least five come with Rs 2,000 note and I have no change,” she says adding “it was a good decision but what should people like us do.”
Like her, many hailed the PM’s decision but a few objected, terming it as draconian.
For Goa, being a tourist state, demonetisation has shed its gloomy shadow on the booming tourism and hospitality industry.
The onset of winter, travel season has been stymied by the unexpected storm of demonetisation.
Not just travel and hospitality industry, but almost all sectors are feeling the impact of demonetisation. Not a single sector is immune to it.
The accommodation section of hotels aren’t much affected, but leisure segments like hotel banquets and high-end restaurants are feeling the pinch as weddings are being called off and many pre-bookings for various wedding ceremonies are also being cancelled.
Initially, after November 8, tourists were also seen sleeping outside the ATMs so as to be the first in line to withdraw cash once the machines are loaded with cash. Such was the irony.
In last few days though, before New Year, the tourism industry in Goa began limping back to normal after day-long panic and knee-jerk reaction of travellers, who began abandoning the coastal destination, hours after Centre’s announcement to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.
“Those who had booked room for seven days had to cut short their visit. People were left cashless as ATMs went dry. Neither the whole tourism establishment has card swiping facility nor the tourists carrying credit cards trust others with their ATM cards,” Domnick Pereira, who owns two restaurants in busy Calangute-Baga locality said.
The State government, which has been monitoring the situation on all fronts including tourism, claims that “It was just a daylong impact which has died down now.”
Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar said that the impact of demonetisation was not much in Goa.
“The impact was only for few days. Now normalcy is returning in the tourism belt. The visitors were panicking for few hours but later they understood what exactly the process was,” Parulekar said.
On the other hand, Ricardo Joseph de Souza, a partner of Tito’s nightclub, says demonetisation did not have much of an impact.
He says, demonetisation has had a slightly positive effect monetarily.
“People seem to be spending more freely on their cards than they would if they were using hard cash. Footfalls also increased primarily because of the booming Indian economy,” he says.
