If there is one story that inevitably crops up around this time, in the final run of the tourist season, it is the ‘charter flight’ story. It has been over three decades since the first charters landed in Goa and since then, charter tourism has been one of the pillars of Goa’s then ad-hoc tourism policy.
This year so far, only 463 charter flights have landed in Goa, bringing 98,796 tourist, most of them from Russia. Stack this up against the amazing tourist season of 2013-14, and you’ll realise there has been a drop of around 60 percent or more. But there are various reasons for this, not just the Russin economy downturn which has obviously devalued the Rouble. That part of the world is at war and less people are moving out, for one. There is also an economic crisis throughout the world; Goa’s high prices, what some may called an overvalue, do not make for an attractive picture.
But this is also what happens when you put all your eggs in one basket. There was a time when an ample amount of charters came in from England, Germany, France and other countries too, besides Russia. When Goan businessmen decided to patronise the Russians and ignore the loyal English and other central European tourists, things started to get ugly. It didn’t help that Russians tend to displace everyone else when they converge upon a tourist destination. Today, you’ll find a smattering of central European tourists and a decently large group of English senior citizens.
But the younger generation of tourists from these countries have vanished from Goa shores. They do not have the kind of downtime that their elders share. Where the older generation came down for months on end, the younger generation do not travel anywhere for more than a month. That’s the difference between retirement funds and yearly travel budgets.
But there is also the matter of increased competition. India’s neighbouring countries have all upped their game. Today, you’ll find packages for Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand and even Bali, Indonesia that compete with those for Goa. So much so that even domestic tourists are dropping Goa as a luxury holiday destination and venturing overseas. In India, Kerala, Gujarat, Rajasthan, the North East and other places have started to flourish, all creating tourism policies and creating attractive advertisments, packages and concepts to lure domestic and foreign tourists. Goa has sadly stuck to the age old beach tourism. Bikinis on Goan beaches are not going to do what they did in the 90s. Things have changed. Goa has stayed in a rut. In fact, with the authorities failure to conduct a beach carrying capacity report, as ordered by the National Green Tribunal in December 2014, even the beaches are in danger of being closed off to private shacks and other players if ruled are not complied with soon.
However, this is probably a lesson for tourism stakeholders and the government. Yes, there is a need to provide incentives to all the players and invite more charters here but there is also a need to go back to the drawing board and reinvent the tourism wheel for Goa. The state came out with a logo not too long ago that had a 360 degree scope, it could be viewed from any angle and still read Goa. Perhaps there is a need to apply that 360 degree concept to the state’s tourism outlook now.
