SHOMA PATNAIK | NT
PANAJI : Tourism industry in the state has taken umbrage to an attempt by the central government to sweep under the carpet the impact of note ban on tourism.
Recently Union Minister of State for Tourism (independent charge) Dr Mahesh Sharma said the demonetisation of high-value currency notes had no impact on tourism in Goa as foreign tourist arrivals increased during November 2016 to January 2017 period.
However, according to local stakeholders “the demonetisation has affected the industry hugely”.
While it is not reflected in arrival figures it was witnessed in the distress faced by foreigners and by their miserable holiday experience in the subsequent chaos.
The stakeholders said that they were eyewitness to the harrowing time faced by tourists and were swamped by genuine complaints from international travellers.
“We cannot gloat over the fact that foreign arrivals increased post-demonetisation. Holidays are booked well in advance and they cannot be cancelled at the last minute,” pointed out TTAG president Savio Messais.
He is also skeptical of the figures showing increase in tourist arrivals.
He said the government statistics taken from the airport are unreliable because they do not distinguish a tourist from a person arriving for business.
“The reality of difficulties faced by foreigners cannot be denied,” Messais said, adding that in Goa the scene was far better than rest of India because of the large number of banks and ATMs.
Vice-president of Kuoni Travel India Ernest Dias, who is on the TTAG managing committee, said that “foreign tourists did not go back with happy memories after they were caught in the cash-crunch confusion.” But even later when the news of the note scrapping was known they could not do much about it.
Dias attributed the ‘increase’ in arrivals to difficulties faced in calling off a trip at the last moment and on the cancellation charges that any traveller would want to avoid.
Dr Sharma had said in the Rajya Sabha that the impact of demonetisation on tourism was expected in the months of November, December 2016 and January 2017.
But on the contrary tourist arrivals in Goa during November 2016 was 49,847 followed 58,059 in December 2016 and 63,504 in January 2017. The increase in arrivals reflects that the note ban had no impact on the tourism sector, the minister had said.
Former president of TTAG Francisco Braganca said that it cannot be denied that tourists had a tough time and statistics cannot be an indication of impact.
“Chartered tourists book their holidays at least a year in advance and they cannot change plans suddenly,” Braganca said.
Local players have pointed out that the figures cited by the minister reveal a modest monthly increase.
“The foreigners even when they got money from bank ran around with Rs 2,000 notes and did not have change. We could see the inconvenience they faced,” said the stakeholders.