The tourism industry saw a number of unpleasant shocks in the month of December starting with the high tides caused by Cyclone Ockhi, which drove the tourists away. The month ended on a very dismal note with a number of hotels struggling to get tourists to fill their rooms in the Christmas to New Year week.
Naturally then, the tourism stakeholders were quite worried at the beginning of the New Year about the prospects of the rest of the tourism season. However, the month of January seems to have alleviated their concerns as hotels are reporting higher occupancy rates in this month compared to December.
Ernest Dias, Chief Operating Officer, Sita Travels and TCI, said, "From the viewpoint of tourist footfalls in the state, the months of January and February will be a lot better than December. A lot of this growth will come from foreign travellers. There is a clear growth in the number of charter flights arriving in Goa every week. Moreover, new scheduled airlines have also started flying directly to Goa. For example, Finnair has recently started twice-a-week flight between Helsinki and Goa."
Other charter operators concurred with Dias. Sheik Ismail, General Manager, Concord Travels & Tours, said, "We are expecting more foreign tourists in Goa in January than December. Charter flights are regularly bringing foreign tourists from Russia and CIS countries every week to Goa. We are handling four flights from Moscow every week, one flight from Kiev to Goa per week and another flight from Kazakhstan to Goa per week. Other charter operators are bringing flights everyday to Goa from Russia."
Several sources pointed out that foreign travellers avoided Goa in the last 15 days of December because hotel tariffs and prices peak at that time. Rather than coming in December, such tourists prefer coming to Goa in January.
Savio Messias, President, Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), said, "The number of foreign tourists visiting Goa will definitely increase in January. Foreign tourists do detailed budgeting before making their travel plans. If they can get a cheaper holiday in January than around Christmas and New Year time, they would prefer the former. The expectations in terms of tourist footfalls were really high between Christmas and New Year, but the actual tourist turnout was a bit lesser."
Moreover, hotels bring down their tariffs in January from peak levels in the previous month, which also attracts a lot of domestic and foreign tourists. This shows that the market becomes a lot more normal in January after an abnormal December month, where several hoteliers inflate tariffs.
Polly D' Cruz, General Manager, The Golden Crown Hotel & Spa in Colva, said, "Yes, January is looking a lot better than December. I think the revival of the market in January is mainly because properties have brought down their tariffs. As hoteliers are going back to normal rates in January after increasing rates in Christmas and New Year, the occupancy is moving upwards. As a result, we can see both Indian and foreign tourists in Goa on weekdays of first week of January itself."
D'Cruz continued, "The demand is so high in January that some of the prominent Russian agents are saying that they are finding hotel rooms to be overbooked. In January, at our property, we already have 85% occupancy, which we are trying to increase to 95% mark."
As D'Cruz mentioned, the demand in January is led both by domestic as well as foreign travellers. January also has a three-day weekend starting January 26 (Republic Day), which is going to attract a lot of domestic tourists to Goa.
Beginning January, even MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) market kicks in; as a result, a lot of companies from all over India organise events in Goa. Rajesh Malliya, General Manager, Hyatt Place Goa Candolim, said, "We are already getting a lot of queries from MICE segment. So many companies do events in Goa starting from January to reward the employees for their performance. The market is booming for us in January, as we are set to achieve several milestones in this month. Overall, we expect an occupancy of 75-80% in the month of January."
Although January is expected to bring about a revival in the tourism industry, the experts still advised caution for few stakeholders. Ismail explained, "Due to Goods and Services Tax, five-star hotels have become more expensive. As a result, the tourists are moving away from these properties to more affordable hotels in areas like Morjim and Ashwem."
Earlier strategies of artificially hiking tariffs may turn out to be self-defeating for hoteliers. Going ahead in January and February, the tourism stakeholders will have to increasingly align their strategies with the market reality.
