Will someone from the State Government or the Tourism Department explain to the people of Goa as to why not a single electronic-dance-music (EDM) festival will be taking place in the state this year?
So far not a single organiser of EDM has approached the government seeking approval to host the event. The larger impression is that Goa has not much to lose if EDMs move out of the state. Well, that is not the case.
EDMs like Sunburn and Supersonic used to bring thousands of tourists to the state every year. They were an important component of Goa’s overall appeal as a destination to both domestic and international travellers.
Seeing their success, a number of music festivals sprang up in the beach belt. There were clearly multiple benefits of holding EDMs in Goa starting with tax revenue to the government to giving a modern vibe to Goa as a destination.
Sure, a number of locals in Vagator and Candolim had to bear with a lot of chaos due to tourists, who had poured in the narrow village lanes to attend EDMs, but, those issues could have been handled if the State Government had planned for the EDMs beforehand.
At the heart of the issue is the fact that the government has absolutely no strategy or plan to attract EDMs. This is when both Sunburn and Supersonic have moved out of Goa already. The government just waits for organisers to approach it for an EDM.
In the past, even when an organiser would approach the government, the people of the state were kept in the dark. Preparations would begin for an EDM, organisers would start selling tickets online and the State Government would deliberately send confusing signals to its own people to keep everyone in the dark whether an EDM would happen or not.
Then, there were allegations and counter-allegations between the organisers and the government. The organisers would complain that they were over-charged by the government and the government would allege that the organisers weren’t paying all their dues.
Professionalism was completely absent from the EDM story. And now when it is possible that EDMs will not happen in the state, no one is talking about it as if nothing ever happened.
Bear in mind that this is going to be a very tough season tourism wise. Egypt and Turkey have opened up as destinations and as a result Russians in large numbers have already started going there. Few charter flights have already cancelled their Goa trip.
None of the basic issues, whether irresponsible taxi owners or dirty beaches have been tackled so far. This shows that Goa hasn’t really improved as a destination. In such a situation, giving up on EDMs would be irresponsible.
