Govt has sent wrong signal to
entertainment industry: Messias
KARAN SEHGAL
PANAJI
The fact that both the electronic dance music (EDM) festivals are not going to happen in Goa and Supersonic is going to happen in Pune in February next year has not gone down well with tourism stakeholders.
The tourism industry had been demanding that at least one EDM should shift to some other days of the year instead of last week of December
Stakeholders say Goa could still have played host to at least one EDM if the state government had given the organisers proper indication that they could organise the show on other days and not between December 25 and December 31, which is the peak season.
Savio Messias, President, Tourism and Travel Association of Goa (TTAG), said, “Supersonic has moved to Pune and is happening in February 2017. TTAG was demanding that at least one of the EDMs should not happen between December 25 and 31.”
Goa is flooded with tourists between Christmas and New Year every year. Since both Supersonic and Sunburn events happened at the same time, these created a lot of congestion in the beach belt of North Goa. Besides, there were security concerns too, as music lovers from around the world would arrive in lakhs to the State.
Messias termed it as “unfortunate” that both the EDMs are not happening in the state. The hoteliers of Baga, Calangute, Anjuna and Vagator are set to lose a lot of business, as people will head to other parts of India, where these EDMs will take place.
These EDMs would get such high footfall of tourists that some of them even booked rooms in central or southern part of Goa, as all hotels in North Goa used to get packed.
Vishnu Reddy from Goan Holiday Resort in Calangute said, “Lot of people used to come to Goa due to Sunburn and Supersonic. Hotels used to be totally occupied. Everyone used to get business. If the problem was both the EDMs were happening at the same time, then we could have allowed them to do their event on different dates.”
Messias continued, “The state government could have offered the EDMs some incentives to hold them on some other days apart from the last week of December. We have sent a wrong signal to entertainment industry as both the EDMs are not happening in Goa this year”
