An early end to tourist season in Goa this year

While it seemed like the pandemic situation was under control and

tourism

in Goa was getting back on track, the situation worsened in early April, forcing a lot of businesses to shut for the season. However, a lot of shacks and

hotels

had already closed down, from February and some didn’t even open this season, due to lack of charter flights. Several hotels have shut down too.

Hotels see a slowdown in business
Reportedly, nearly 2,100 of the registered 3,500 hotels have closed for the season as the occupancy rates went down from 80% to 10% towards the beginning of April. With frequent cancellations due to the lockdown in neighbouring states, night curfew and the recent weekend lockdown in Goa, even starred properties that continue to stay open have slashed prices. “Last year, some of the hotels managed to survive, since economic activity opened and there was a rush for Goa, a relatively safe place with connectivity to many cities,” says Nilesh Shah, president of

Travel and Tourism Association of Goa

.
With no international tourists or charter flights, hotels have started facing the brunt of it. “Many hotels didn’t reopen last season since foreign tourists and charter flights weren’t open. Unfortunately, some of the hotels which were open are closing down due to lack of business, even though government has allowed hotels to stay open. It is a matter of survival. It will be even more challenging if the situation doesn’t improve. Almost six lakh people are directly and indirectly dependent on tourism,” he adds.
The only saving grace for hotels in April was the film and television shoots that moved to Goa because of the Maharashtra lockdown. “Production units book hotels for a month or more, and in turn also provide employment to other sectors,” says Nilesh.

No foreign tourists, shacks facing the brunt
Business has hit an all-time low for shacks this year, as there are no international flights or charters. Cruz Cardoso, president of Goa Shack Owners’ Welfare Society, says, “Most of the shacks have been shut. Shacks started closing towards the end of February, and March, and by April almost everyone shut. As of now, at least 60% shacks have shut down. Usually, we shut after May 15. Some people chose to not put up shacks, since no international flights were allowed. We did get domestic tourists since options of flying out of India was limited. But many cancelled those trips in the last month.” Business is down by 40-50% for most shacks,” says Cruz.

Business has hit a new low for watersports and tour agents
In the last quarter of 2020, it was mostly domestic tourists and budget travellers who visited Goa. Charlie, proprietor of Atlantis Watersports, tells us, “We operate round the year, but have shut down temporarily since there are no tourists. We have even closed down our offices. After the lockdown when tourism reopened, there seemed to be a ray of hope as domestic tourists started coming in, but it was short lived. We got just a few months of business before the situation worsened again. We have seen at least a 50% drop in business.”
Tour agents have spent the year trying to get refunds for their clients and assisting in emergency travel only. Luisa Gera, from MGM Travels, says, “It’s been very difficult since March 2020. We shifted to working from home. But the whole year until now was spent on getting refunds from airlines, hotels, package tours and so on. There was no new business. When tourism opened in October, until early February, we were still getting bookings, but it’s all been down after that. We are on the brink of closure. Now, I only assist in bookings for emergency, and suggest weekend drives for leisure. Hotels are not doing well, airlines are in trouble, and we as the middleman,
are affected badly.”