PANAJI
A source from hospitality industry, on the condition of anonymity, said, “The State government had deployed luxury buses to ferry tourists from luxury hotels to the airport. Besides, tour operators used their own tempos to move tourists. Yellow and black taxis also stepped in to ensure smooth movement of tourists within the State”.
The government had deployed police everywhere to make sure than no untoward event takes place and peace is maintained. A press release from Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) said, “GTDC and Kadamba Transport Corporation Limited pressed into service around 45 buses at Dabolim and all hotels in the State also pooled in vehicles for ferrying tourists to various designated locations throughout the day”.
Atish Fernandes, director, business development, First Class Holidays, said, “The government has done a great job. Officials from KTCL were even guiding tourists at the airport. I’d say it was a great effort but this is still a stop-gap arrangement”.
Fernandes continued, “Even though tourists were able to move, they were still inconvenienced. For example, our foreign guests pay for really premium taxis well in advance of coming to Goa. They were inconvenienced when they were told all of a sudden that they will have to go by luxury coaches”.
Some tour operators even used their 14-seater tempos to move tourists. A hotel manager, who didn’t want to be named, said, “We used our staff’s personal cars to move tourists to the airport”.
Many hotels were fully booked and even then they were able to ensure that their guests reach airport in time. Tapas De, general manager, Hotel Fidalgo, said, “We were 100% booked on Sunday. We knew that there would be issues due to strike and therefore we had made our own arrangements to move our guests”.
It is true that tourists had to face a bit of hardship, but this was the most co-ordinated effort by State government, hotels and tour operators to make sure that tourist movement was not affected.
