Bars and restaurants opened in the tourist village of Colva on Tuesday, with the owners thanking the government for the decision to open the bars, but many preferred to keep their fingers crossed over the business.
MARGAO
With social distancing being the norms to fight Covid, many a bar and restaurant switched over to social distancing by drastically reducing the number of tables in the outlets.
Day one of the opening of bars saw a couple of tourists having a glass of beer in the bars in the tourist village, but the owners say the business would depend on the arrival of tourists.
They, however, thanked the government for finally taking the decision to open the bars again. “We had ensured that our staff stayed with us since the time of lockdown. Though our bars and restaurants were shut down since the time of lockdown, we provided them with food and shelter all these months. We even paid them their salary so that they also send some money to their families back home”, a bar and restaurant owner said.
Proprietor of famous Kentucky bar and restaurant, Mathew also echoed similar sentiments. “We had looked after our workers during these four months, hoping that the bars and restaurants would open one day”, Mathew said, while thanking the government for the decision.
Mathew said though his Kentucky restaurant played host to around 50 tables in a season, he has decided to put only 10 tables for the moment as part of social distancing. “We have to maintain social distancing. We have also instructed our employees to provide hand sanitizers to our customers”, he said.
However, most bars and restaurants did not report good business on day of the reopening, with many saying that they hardly got any customers on Tuesday.
