PANAJI
Goa's beaches and roads may have been choc-o-block with tourists flocking here over the long weekend despite the spectre of the pandemic but there is little to cheer for the hospitality trade.
Occupancy rates in the nearly 3,000 operational hotels have remained abysmally low, industry sources said and attributed it to the zero inflow of the foreign tourists.
According to Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) president Nilesh Shah, of the approximately 40,000 room capacity available in the hotels currently operational, occupancy is very poor.
Shah said, these are domestic tourists flocking the State and the beaches. While they are welcome and do bring in some business for the food industry just one in five of them actually patronise the established middle and high-end hotel industry.
Baggered by the pandemic, the travel and tourism sector, crucial to the Goan economy is tottering.
Industry sources said, over a quarter of the State's nearly 4,000-odd registered hotels have shut operations to avoid running costs.
Several are staring at financial bankruptcy and there are reports of some distress sales, the sources added.
The State government, which recently unveiled a new tourism policy, however, is yet to touch base with the industry representatives or offer any substantive stimulus or package other than minor VAT and other sops.
Meanwhile pictures and videos of overcrowded beaches have flooded the internet with netizens expressing alarm over the visibly careless violation of physical distancing norms and the rule mandating use of face masks.
Pictures of a scene at Baga beach, especially, have gone viral depicting tourists violating the physical distancing norms and the rare visitor sporting a face mask.
