MARGAO
Traditional Midnight Christmas masses and dances, besides events, are all set to take place as usual, with the men-in-uniform expected to turn a blind eye to these traditional religious services and cultural events. Tourism stakeholders, including hoteliers, event managers, however, prefer to keep their fingers crossed with a simple question: What’s next?
The peel of the midnight mass at Churches across the State will usher in the Christmas festivities, with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral giving the go-ahead signal to the Christmas midnight masses, even going to the extent of reassuring that the Churches need not take permission to hold these religious services.
Along with the midnight masses, traditional Christmas dances and events too line up at several places, going by the events organised by local clubs and event management. Tourism stakeholders and event managers, however, anxiously look forward to the government’s immediate intervention to bring clarity on sound norms if tourism has to survive in the State.
An air of uncertainty continues to hit the tourism sector over sound and music, with starred hotels in a confused state about how to go about organizing their open-air Christmas and New Year parties. That’s not all. Stakeholders and event managers say the sound pollution norms seemed to have also left partygoers in a confused state. “We have now started receiving queries from people about whether the police would allow the event to go on past midnight. We find ourselves in a piquant situation to answer such queries when we ourselves have no idea how the authorities and the police would react to the events,” remarked a dance organiser.
He added: “We have taken a big risk by organizing the Christmas midnight dance, not aware how the people will respond to the event when there’s no clarity on the timing to play music open air.”
Says event manager, Dean D’Souza: The sound norms have indeed cast a shadow on the entertainment and tourism industry. Stakeholders are keeping their fingers crossed on what lies in store for them after the festive season. Everyone is looking forward beyond the Christmas and New Year festivities.”
Cavelossim sarpanch Dixon Vaz echoed similar sentiments. “The music ban has already affected the tourism industry. Most of the business and starred hotels are affected as they are not sure if they can continue their events past midnight,” he said.
Dixon added: “Also the customers do not want to take a chance by advance booking as the event organizers cannot guarantee music past midnight. It’s a serious concern for the tourism industry. If there is no solution to this then there will be a decline in tourist arrivals in Goa and they may prefer to travel outside India or spend the holiday at home.”
Another hotel owner pointed out that the police may not come in the way of the events lining up during the festive season. He, however, hastened to add that such a situation does not augur well for a tourist state for want of clarity and a permanent solution from the government.
