Karan Sehgal
PANAJI
Heavy rains, which had disconnected Goa from rest of India, and taxi strike wrecked havoc on tourism industry in August. Many hotels reported their worst ever occupancy rates, as they failed to make profit during the month.
The first half of August witnessed heavy rainfall in Goa causing landslides in ghat section and thereby blocking road access to the State. At the same time, a number of flights and trains were also cancelled. Few tourists, who could still come in somehow, had to face taxi strike, which made them very unhappy.
Ralph de Sousa, seasoned hotelier, said, “Most hotels in North Goa reported 25% occupancy in August due to problems caused by rains. Even those hotels, which did well, did not have more than 35% occupancy during the month.”
Free-individual-travellers (FITs) cancelled their bookings last minute causing huge inconvenience to the hoteliers. Some of the hotels managed to survive somehow thanks to corporate events business.
Nikheel Shirodkar, general manager, ibis Styles in Calangute, said, “FITs can book a hotel-room online and can also cancel online. Such clients cancelled their bookings in August. Only the corporate segment came in August. These are the clients, who book in bulk and they managed to get flights.”
Shirodkar continued, “We could reach only 40%-43% occupancy in August, which
was much lower than 58% occupancy in August last year. Mid-segment hotels like us were particularly affected. Richer tourists, who go to most premium hotels, still came in Goa despite bad weather. And, low income tourists also came in and stayed at rooms available at cheap tariffs.”
Other sources also said that mid-segment hotels faced an almost crisis like situation in August. When other factors are going against tourism industry, slowing Indian economy has also ensured that people don’t travel.
Polly D’Cruz, general manager, The Golden Crown Hotel & Spa in Colva, said, “The business was very bad throughout July and till mid of August. Lot of bookings got cancelled when monsoon was at its peak. Things picked up a bit after August 15.”
