‘We are merely surviving’

Despite Goa receiving one of the highest number of visitors from across the country, the state’s travel trade is merely surviving as these are low-spending, short-stay tourists. TTAG (Travel & Tourism Association of Goa) has requested its government to share the Rs300 crore budget it has received from the Centre for its independence celebrations.

The state of Goa has been receiving good domestic tourist footfalls since December 2020 with Christmas and New Year holidays, says Nilesh Shah, President of TTAG (Travel & Tourism Association of Goa). Unfortunately, the chartered flights have not yet started into Goa due to restrictions. “As a result, more than 2,500 smaller hotels out of the total official figure of4,100 hotels registered in Goa have not started yet,” he says. However, Goa is expected to witness yet another packed weekend with its annual festival Carnival kicking off in the second week of February.

But Shah says that overall business is still bad. “It is a matter of survival for us right now and we are somehow able to manage because of the domestic traffic and the fact that we don’t have mandatory quarantine or negative certificate requirement for domestic tourists anymore. This was the biggest plus for us. But, the smaller hotels and travel agents continue to suffer until foreign tourists start coming in because they are long-staying tourists
who stay for 15-21 days,” Shah says.

He adds that Goa’s tourism industry has not received any sort of relief from its government. “There is nothing for us in the Budget also. The Goa government has received Rs300 crore special package from the Centre for celebration of 60 years of independence from Portuguese rule. We hope that 50 per cent of this money is allocated to tourism. Every time we ask our government for any relief, it has the best answer –we don’t have funds! But unless the tourism industry in Goa survives, the state will have a tough time,” Shah warns.

The good news is that the number of flights to Goa is increasing with “more than 65-70 domestic flights a day,” Shah says, adding that some of these flights are from new sectors like Lucknow, Chandigarh and Jaipur.

More industry representation

Shah’s association has been requesting for a meeting with the Goa CM since two months to discuss various issues. However, he says, this has not happened yet. “We want more representation from Goa’s tourism industry in government tourism bodies. We have asked for some structural changes which hopefully will be heeded. We have already had one round of discussion with the Tourism Secretary on this and shared our suggestions on how the industry can have a good platform to be heard. The industry should have a say on how the funds need to be spent on marketing Goa – which markets to tap and how to attract FTAs. We should be consulted on a regular basis on this because we have our ears to the ground,” Shah explains.

TTAG has also suggested forming of a 16-member committee with participation of different stakeholders from the industry – hotels, transport agents, travel agents, trade associations, etc – which will be under the tourism board. “This will have eight people from the industry and eight from the government, and the industry will choose who will be nominated to represent them. This committee has not been formed yet,” Shah adds.

Goa finds mention in Union Budget

“2021 is the year of many important milestones for our history. I mention a few of these: It is the 75th year of Independence, 60 years of Goa’s accession to India,” said FM Nirmala Sitharaman. “Goa is celebrating the diamond jubilee year of its liberation from Portuguese rule. From the government of India’s side, I propose a grant of Rs300 crore to the government of Goa for the celebrations,” she added. The speech, however, did not offer clarity on when the funds would be disbursed and if they would come for any specific purpose.