Is 'Goa' dead?

Is Goa dead?

Herald Review December 28, 2014

The State government’s mismanagement and lack of foresight in attracting a broad base of tourists has resulted in one of the worst tourism seasons ever.  

LISA ANN MONTEIRO

Reality has hit home and stake holders in the tourism industry have little reason to celebrate this festive season with the no show of tourists. Stakeholders are angry and inconsolable.

The Goa tourism department instead of consulting stakeholders thought it fit to hire a brand consultant to work on a new brand strategy for Goa. This resulted in the rebranding of Goa’s tourism, a new logo of Goa Tourism and a new tagline Kenna fast, kenna slow, kenna short kenna long, kenna this kenna that …’, thought to be a definitive expression of the Goa brand.

All the branding has done the State little good as tourism stakeholders struggle to get through the season they call the worst ever. Even recession was better, one hotelier remarked.

The problem is not so much that of the falling value of the Russian rouble, but one of total mismanagement and lack of foresight of the tourism department, putting all its eggs into one basket and banking on the Russian and other CIS tourists alone, while doing nothing to attract the UK, German and other high spending tourists back to the State.

“Going in for one market is completely the wrong thing to do. They should have maintained a balancing act. What’s worse is that the Russians are a deterrent to all other tourists and they monopolise Goa which is a dangerous thing. The European tourists simply don’t want to go where they go. The government should have gone to other countries and marketed Goa there and brought down the number of tourists from Russia,” one hotelier said.

Managing Director Condor, Uwe Balser says many tourists come to the State who don’t speak English but there isn’t any signage in their language.

He can’t understand why this preferential treatment towards tourists from one country. “ It’s a bit like they’re welcome and others are not. This is completely different from the nature and hospitality of the India I know.” This priority given to Russian tourists at the expense of the Germans, British and others makes Graeme Reid, UK national who has been visiting Goa for the past 16 years, want to choose another holiday destination.

Susie Davison finds that the influx of Russian tourists mar her holiday.

“Many of them are rude, mean and cause arguments and are insensitive to local customs and ways.” Restorer and proprietor Goa Chitra, Victor Hugo Gomes says the tourists from Scandinavian countries and Europe have a wholesome view of the State while Russians don’t move out beyond the beach. When the Scandinavian crowd was leaving, instead of solving the issue, the government banked on the Russians. “This is a wakeup call. Goa was sold too cheaply and for the wrong reasons. A major rebranding of Goa is needed and it will be quite an effort to attract these tourists again.”

Why market a low budget experience, Bruno Gomindes, MD Travco Holidays, asks. “The Russians want to control our own tourism activity and don’t want to avail of facilities offered by the locals. We should have been very busy during this time of the year. The situation is bad.”

Many believe the low spending tourists wouldn’t be encouraged to come if there were no illegal constructions along the beach especially along the Morjim- Arambol belt which offer accommodation at unbelievably low rates. Illegal constructions cater to tourists of the worst kind with the State not earning great value from them as many of them only deal in cash. The illegal rooms and unauthorized guest houses they stay in often don’t have permissions and hence don’t declare their income and don’t pay tax. “No one’s checking on these things and it is only the good people who get stung paying all the required taxes. Instead of boasting of a large number of tourists, the Chief Minister, they say should boast of fewer tourists who spend more in the State,” one hotelier says.

Visa blues

Other deterrents that cause endless stress to UK tourists are the complicated procedures to obtain a visa. Many complain about the cost too.

Barbara Millns says the visa situation puts off a lot of people. “Why can’t it be a simple process of pay on arrival and stamp passport like most tourist destinations? The price is also detrimental to people staying just two or three weeks.” John K Pemberton, UK national says the visa application process is a nightmare and really should be brought into the 21st century. The application process gets more difficult every year and information requested seems to be completely pointless. “It takes around three hours to fill the application forms online.” 

Vivien Baptiste a UK national who has been visiting for more than a decade finds the visa cost and process has ruined the two week package.

“Using VFS for the visa application takes a long time to complete. Visas are often returned without being processed for very minor points. Requests for multiple entry are often sent back as one entry only. This is annoying and costly.”

Rip off attitude

Inflated prices are also driving away tourists. Biryani priced at Rs 300, Steaks at Rs 500 Beer at Rs 140, water at Rs 40 are the going rates on the Candolim belt. “I’m sorry but you can’t compensate less tourists with higher prices. That is against every rule of economy and a big plus on Goa was cheap prices. Of course it is still cheap but there are other places in the world which are cheap too and the gap is not big enough anymore. People are getting greedy and tourists feel that. The national sport in India is not cricket it is cheating. If sellers price their products at ten times the market price then that puts people off. The cost of four and five star hotels are far too high for the standard offered. In Thailand I can get rooms in better hotels for half the price,” Florian Eydner says.

The rip off attitude also puts off Pemberton and deters him from buying from outside permanent stores. “When a tourist comes to our state we should treat him as our guest and honour him. Instead we want to strip him and this makes him feel insecure and he will tell others not to come,” Gomindes says.

Taxi tantrums

The State government not taking the taxi drivers head on, allowing them to operate with no meter system, is not a plus point for tourism. Other states all have their meter systems running. Only in Goa does the government want to please this lobby and maintain their vote bank.

Five star hotels too are all controlled by their taxi associations where local taxi drivers aren’t allowed to enter and ferry their guests. “If I’m in a new place and can’t speak the language I would feel very insecure about getting into a taxi where I have no idea how much they will charge me,” a local commented.

Garbage holiday Holiday makers don’t enjoy a holiday in garbage. Goa didn’t smell 20 years ago but it does today. “What most of us want is a regular clean up. We do NOT want shopping malls, golf courses, private beaches or huge hotels. We want Goa to be Goa which is unique, not a copy of the West Indies or Thailand,” Baptiste says.

Balser says it pains him to see garbage strewn around Goa. If he had his way he says he wouldn’t allow plastic to be sold. “Why not go back to the old times were you put everything in paper. Within a year the whole place would be clean. Wherever you go nobody cares. You get a plastic bag for one item and another one for another item. It’s as if you can be proud to have ten plastic bags. I really hate it and I always take my own bag with me to the store. But that thinking is not there. The oceans today are completely polluted with plastic.”

Proprietor InnGoa.com, Jonathan Vaz says people in Kerala are attracting quality tourists while our State is bringing in the riffraff. “Kerala is managing their tourism and we’re only attracting whoever wants to come in large numbers. Kerala promotes itself very well. Stakeholders should be taken into consideration and basic infrastructure of toilets, changing rooms, pathways to the beach and basic signage should be put in place by the government.” Plenty of rooms he says are available this season even on December 31, something never seen in the past. “This is the season people in the tourism sector mint money but this has been the worst month and worst season ever.” Review Bureau 

Tourists’ woes

Corrupt and helpless

“The apparent corruption of the police and their violence towards the beach sellers in front of visitors to the country is very distressing. They hit them with sticks in front of whoever happens to be there. The police are only interested in lining their own pockets. I and my family have personal experiences of reporting lost items and trying to obtain a report for insurance companies  and have been met with basic contempt by the local police who were only interested in a backhander to release a report.”

-Mary Martin  

I had a burglars in my Apartment at 3 am and the Police did not want to come at this time. I had a bike accident and called the police because the young guy was running off and the police begged me not to report it after calling them to Report it. I can live with it but it scares people in the world if they hear how the police is working and don’t feel protected or the facto of Self Justice. 

-Florian Eydner   

Under promoted

Goa is not promoted in the UK. Very few people know anything about it . Personally I love Goa the way it was before the roads were paved and the beach sellers were banned, it all added to the personality of Goa , but progress is inevitable. To attract more tourists the visa needs to be reasonable and the UK public need to know Goa exists through TV, advertising, just let people know Goa is open to business.

- Ian Hall

Bad impression

On December 23 we witnessed an illegal shack next door to the one we frequent on the beach being hacked to the ground as they hadn’t paid the large license fee. The band of about 28 police stood around watching the carnage with their batons as local workers hacked etc the unit down. The group of police and officials then moved on down the beach to the legal shack owners, checking their licenses and then pointlessly sawing wooden sun beds in half as they had exceeded their license allowance and had put out 30 beds instead of only 15 as per their license.

We all know that shack owners tempt diners in by offering free sun beds and people stay all day. For new arrivals who witnessed this, their impression of Goa is not good. My friend and others were in tears at observing such needless destruction. Young British children witnessing this were terrified and families were running off the beach. Why is there not a regular, fair inspection system put in place and fines incurred with re inspections to ensure things remain legal and not based on backhanders?

- Susie Davison

Internet speed

The speed of the internet is a joke especially for younger generations. I pay Rs 4000 monthly to BSNL for a speed up to 2mbps but outside by apartment you get may be 50 kbps provided from restaurants, shacks and hotels. We are in 2014 and tourists want a running system. Many pensioners from Britain come to Goa for the full season but you may lose out on the next generation because of this.

- Florian Eydner 

link: http://epaperoheraldo.in/Details.aspx?id=10160&boxid=174015968&uid=&dat=12/28/2014