PANAJI
Although hotels across Goa are reporting high occupancy rates in March, they have to offer discount on the contracted rate with tour operators especially to attract tourists coming through charter flights to fill in their rooms. This means that high occupancy is coming at a cost of discount to the tariff rate.
Polly D’ Cruz, General Manager, The Golden Crown Hotel & Spa in Colva, said, “95-98% of our room inventory is occupied in the month of March, thanks entirely to the foreign tourists coming through charter flights to Goa. However, we had to offer a discount of 10-15% on our contracted rate with tour operators to attract these tourists.”
A very high percentage of tourists arriving in Goa through charter flights are from Russia. D’Cruz said, “As Russia comes out of winter, fewer Russians travel out of their country. Due to this, charter segment gets weaker by the end of March.”
Even in December, hoteliers were told to give discounts on their contracted rate to fill in rooms. The business in December was weaker for hospitality industry on an average in the state. Due to this, a number of hotels did offer discounts on the contracted rate to attract tourists coming from charter flights.
Now, even in March, hotels have to give similar discounts to fill in their rooms.
Savio Messias, president, Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), said, “Often, we have seen that hoteliers demand an increase of 5% in tariff every year in Goa. It doesn’t happen in other travel destinations, where tariff remain constant for 2-3 years. Due to this, tour operators tell hotels to give discount on contracted rate to get tourists from the charter segment.”
Messias continued, “Even otherwise we have seen that hotels artificially increase tariff in Goa even when there is no corresponding increase in demand. As a result, they find it difficult to fill in all their rooms. Seeing this, tour operators tell them to give discount on contracted rate to get tourists.”
