MARGAO
As curtains come down on yet another tourist season, tourism stakeholders from Salcete, including shack and water sports operators, have nothing much to cheer about as they wind up their shack and water sports business along the coastal belt.
For many in the shack business, the season was no better than the previous one, while others barely managed to stay afloat as the dark clouds of coronavirus that hovered over the tourism business since late 2019 seemed to have not passed away yet.
If the shack operators are in the process of dismantling the shacks along the Salcete coast, water sports operators have also anchored their boats on the shore due to the bad weather conditions this month. The water sports season ends on May 31, but bad and inclement weather has played spoilsport for the operators, leaving them with no option but to anchor the boats along the coast.
Both, the shack operators and the water sports operators, however, look forward to a good tourism season post-monsoon, pinning their hopes on the new Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte to bail them out of the situation.
Cruz Cardozo, president of Goa Shack Owners Society says, “Shack owners along the Salcete coast and the beach belt had a difficult time this season. Many shack operators could not erect the shacks for fears of loss of business and losses. Some of the operators have barely managed to stay afloat, while others were in a no profit, no loss situation”.
He added: “The shack business has hit a bad patch since December 2019, when Covid had just raised its ugly head in China and other parts of the world. By January the next year, foreign tourists stopped coming to the State, and by February-March, we went into total lockdown. Even as things just began to open up in late October, the deadly second wave in early 2021 again hit the tourism sector badly”.
The arrival of Russian tourists at the beginning of 2022, he said, had raised some hopes for the shack business. Cardozo, however, said the Russia-Ukraine war dashed all hopes of a recovery, leaving the shack operators to depend on the domestic tourists.
“No doubt, there has been an increase in the footfall of tourists, but one should understand that amongst the visitors were hardly 20 per cent spenders and another 30 per cent middle-class tourists”, he added.
Saying the shack operators now look forward to a good season post-monsoons, Cardozo made a fervent plea to the new Tourism Minister to consider the application of the shack owners to compensate the existing operators with one or two-year extension to make good the losses.
“We have asked the government to extend the licenses of shack owners for another two years. Even a one-year extension will help the owners recover the losses”, he added.
The Goa Shack Owners Society has urged the government to start the process of allotment of shacks and demarcation early so that the operators can erect the shacks well on time in the new season.
Benaulim water sports owners
want permissions by August
MARGAO
Having lost the peak days to bad weather and the Delta variant, water sports operators from Benaulim have made a fervent plea to the new Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte to ensure they are given all permissions by August itself.
Water sports operator Pele Fernandes said that while the Captain of Ports issues the permission by mid-August, it takes a lot of time before they get the permissions from the Fisheries and the Tourism Department.
“Water sports depend on the weather conditions. We have almost lost the entire month of May given the bad weather conditions. This is a time when domestic tourists come to Goa to beat the heat. But, the weather Gods played spoilsport and we had to stay away from the waters”, Pele said.
He also made an appeal to the Tourism Minister to put in place a single-window mechanism, wherein the permissions are given to the operators without any delay.
“We can start the season as early as September if the permission comes from the Tourism Department since we do not know what lies in store for the operators in the later months”, he said.
He added: “We employ around 15-20 workers to run the water sports operations. They also have families to look after and we have to sometimes pay from our pockets even when there is no business”.
The controversial floating jetty project
Drishti’s floating jetty proposal off the Benaulim beach met with strong opposition from the local fishermen and the water sports operators.
Apprehensive that the floating jetty would disrupt the activities of traditional fishermen and water sports, and take away the business of stakeholders such as tourist taxi operators, the proposal met with stiff resistance from the local players.
Traditional fisherman and water sports operator Pele Fernandes said the floating jetty proposed at Benaulim beach will be opposed tooth and nail.
“This floating jetty is not in the interest of the fishermen and tourism stakeholders such as tourist taxis and water sports operators”, he asserted.
Oily substance washes along Benaulim-Varca beach stretch
MARGAO:
Wednesday saw fresh deposits of the oily substance washed ashore the Salcete coastal belt, this time along the Benaulim-Varca stretch. Early morning joggers on the Benaulim-Varca stretch stumbled upon huge deposits of the oily substance washed ashore.
Tarballs have come to haunt the Salcete coast again this year, with the oily substance covering vast stretches of the beach stretch.
Local fishermen have suspected the death of a couple of sea turtles on the Benaulim beach to the oily substance washed ashore in the last few days.
