Navhind Times | 6 months ago | 25-05-2022 | 02:06 am
Considering the footfall, stakeholders hopeful of better season next timeMargao: Though officially the tourism season winds up on May 30, many stakeholders in Salcete including shack owners, water sports operators and hoteliers are shutting shop early.The effects of COVID on the tourism industry over the past two years had many worried things with fears that tourism may not get back on track. However, this season, stakeholders say that things have improved slightly and the industry may see smooth operations next season.This year, many stakeholders started operations later than usual as they waited to see the trend of tourists during the peak season of November-January. Unlike the 2020-21 season, this season saw mostly domestic tourists flock to Salcete beaches, with Colva and Benaulim being popular ones especially during the Christmas-New Year holiday season.A handful of foreign tourists had made their way to the beaches of Colva, Benaulim, Varca and Cavleossim but with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the state’s major chunk of foreign Russian tourists failed to turn up this season. Many said that Russian tourists who had come to the state had to leave after a few days.Cavelossim shack owner and president of the Shack Owners Welfare Society, Goa Cruz Cardozo said, “A Russian couple who had come to my shack but after two days, I learnt that they had to return to their home country because of the war. Once the war started, we couldn’t see Russian tourists. It was mainly the Indian tourists who visited the state this season.”Along the Salcete coast, shack owners had started dismantling the structures as early as the beginning of May and the majority by mid- May. Bigger, popular shacks mostly in Colva and Benaulim however are waiting for the end of the month to wrap up.Goa Small and Medium Hoteliers Association president Serafin Cotta meanwhile is also hopeful and is looking to the next season. “Right now, the way forward looks to be good. We are hoping that with Russian tourists’ arrival collapsing, we can somehow get the English tourists to the state. This year, we mainly saw domestic tourists but we didn’t get as much business since many tourists were staying in unregistered rooms,” he said.Water sports operators too are hopeful as they have also seen a steady rise in domestic tourists. “We usually receive domestic tourists using water sports activities like banana boat rides, jet and water ski rides and parasailing. Since COVID, this year we are slowly seeing improvement. Compared to last season, we had a much better season this time,” said Colva-based water sport operator Menino Fernandes.However, there is a unanimous call for support and assistance from the government to further help the stakeholders stay afloat.“Shack owners are happy that permissions were given in time this season, but we have appealed to the government to give a one – or two-year extension to the holding of the shack allotment process which is due this year since last year many had not put up their shacks because of the pandemic. We have written to the tourism department already and hope that our request is considered,” said Cardozo.The problem of unregistered rooms has been troubling the small and medium hoteliers with constant calls to the state government to crack down on such practices as it was causing a loss to the state’s exchequer.“The new tourism minister seems to be interested in addressing our issues. We just hope the issue of unregistered rooms is resolved since around 80% of the tourists are staying in unregistered rooms, which is a loss to the state,” said Cotta.Subsidies and incentives, say stakeholders, could also help ease the burden. “It would come as a welcome relief to water sports operators if the government could provide us with some subsidies along the lines of the fisheries department either in providing a fuel subsidy or an incentive to help us buy new boats or equipment,” said Fernandes.
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