NT NETWORK
PANAJI
Even as the tourism season has taken off in Goa, the demonetisation of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes has had its deep impact on the lower strata of businesses in the state with tourists showing poor presence.
While occupancy at the star hotels has not received a big setback, the hotel industry has witnessed a dip in the bookings with several bookings cancelled and walk-in stays reduced drastically.
President of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) Savio Messias said that the star hotels are witnessing normal business as expected during the month. “However, the small businesses have been impacted the most. Though there are no large-scale cancellations since most of the hotel bookings are being done through cards, on ground, the spending capacity is very low and the small establishments have almost negligible business,” he said.
However, tour operators and travel agents said that business is not as usual with bookings in hotels either being cancelled or postponed for later dates. “New bookings are low and there are cancellations too as people cannot spend even if they come. So either they are cancelling or in some cases postpone the bookings,” a tour operator in North Goa said.
While the occupancy has been hit, the other dependant businesses too have faced a setback. The rent-a-bike business is running on a low scale compared to the sales during November, last year.
A city-based rent-a-bike businessman said that tourists come with the old currency notes and one has to decide whether to accept the money and face the heat of the government department or lose business. “I have been rejecting anyone who comes with the old currency notes because firstly I have to arrange for the change and then the other problem is that I will be the one facing the authorities. Why should I stand in the queue and exchange someone’s money? Therefore, I am not accepting the old notes, which means I lose business,” he added.
The taxi business is no different as the dip in occupancy and tourist arrivals in the state directly affects the trade. Vice president of the North Goa Tourist Taxi Owners Association (NGTTOA) Ravindra Vengurlekar said, “We are seeing that even the foreign tourist arrivals have been hit and the local tourist arrivals are negligible when compared to last year.”
He further said that visitors have trouble in exchanging notes and, therefore, the taxis are forced to accept the old currency notes. However, the foreign nationals are facing difficulty for foreign exchange and that is one of the reasons for avoiding the trip or postponing it to early next year.
He said that the taxi fraternity hopes that the business would improve towards the Christmas season with arrivals of local tourists. “Normally, foreign tourist arrivals are more after Christmas and New Year, so we hope atleast that will not be impacted due to demonetisation,” he added.