KARSTEN MIRANDA
karsten@herald-goa.com
BENAULIM: Against the backdrop of World Tourism Day 2022 celebrations, the shacks adorning Goan beaches, which put the State on the global map and have been a key attraction for tourists, are fighting to survive.
When Herald spoke with dozens of shack owners on World Tourism Day, they shared stories of how their business has suffered and today’s reality is a far cry from the golden era of the past.
Still reeling from the aftershocks of the Covid pandemic, these Goan shack owners are facing a multitude of problems and in some places, are getting lost in the shadows of shacks run by non-Goans.
“At the end of the day, you need to make money and shacks have been running into heavy losses. It is true that some shacks do not serve authentic Goan cuisine anymore but it is a means to an end to them and they are making good business that way. Also tourists get Goan cuisine at restaurants near the beach and so do not want to come to the shacks just for Goan food,” said Jose Coutino, a south Goa-based shack owner.
According to estimates given by Goan shack owners, there may be around 250 of them still running their shacks in Goa but they emphasise unless the situation changes, there will be a scenario where more Goans do not run their shacks or just give it up altogether.
“There are huge financial requirements to run a shack. If you are a newcomer it is even higher. We are now trying to get the government to lower the fees but you have to understand that setting up a shack itself and maintaining overheads is a lot of money,” said Cruz Cardozo, President of the Shack Owners Welfare Society (SOWS).
“If there was a solid policy, not only would our Goan identity be retained but our financial woes would be addressed. While we are grateful that the government extended the shack policy, this year they have increased the fees dramatically,” he added.
He explained that overall they are paying 2.17 lakh for the license and other fees.
John Lobo, Secretary of SOWS, who recently met the Chief Minister with their delegation, gave a breakdown of how the fees they are paying have increased.
Cardozo said they have been demanding that the government reverts to manual processing of applications and do away with Goa Electronic Limit (GEL), which is slow and time processing.
Cardozo also questioned why the Tourism Department has not completed the demarcation process of shacks on the beaches, without which they cannot start putting up their shacks.
He added that every year by September this is done but this year it has been delayed.
“We were hoping to be open by Dussehra, October 5 for the Indian tourists,” he said.
John added that shacks in Goa have become dependent on Indian tourists ever since the pandemic and recalled painfully about the two and half years where foreign tourists stopped coming to Goa and visiting shacks.
He added that this also caused a big change in customer preferences which dictate how shacks are run. He gave the example of how a domestic tourist will frequent shacks that are close to the beach access and due to this, shacks, which were famous before are now losing out on customers.
On a concluding note, SOWS said their season will depend on what the Chief Minister, who is also the Finance Minister, decides regarding a deduction in their fees. They added that they were grateful that the government had given a 50% cut in license fees for the last two years but that did not mean it was okay to increase existing fees by such a high amount as the shack owners are still coming out with losses suffered in previous seasons.
Senior officials from the Tourism Department said the demarcation process will be completed soon and that the Tourism Minister had already begun consulting with tourism stakeholders to help improve the tourism sector, which includes the business of Goan shack owners.
Ozrant-Vagator shack owners want better amenities
Shack owners from Ozrant-Vagator have made a representation to the Director of Goa Tourism Department and the Siolim MLA Delialah Lobo to provide basic civic amenities such as access to road, toilets and changing room, parking facility, water supply, dustbins and high mass lamp at Small Vagator-Ozrant Beach absence of these amenities is causing lot of inconvenience to them as well as the tourists visiting the beach.
Shack owners further pointed out that the absence of toilets and changing room facility has led to frequent arguments between the shack owners and the customers.
“Due to lack of dustbins, the beach is getting littered with lot of waste, which causes an adverse impact on the environment as well as the image of the beach. The tourists blame the shack owner and the local authorities for it,” shack owners said.
They further said that during the night, there is total darkness on the beach because there is no illumination. A high mass lamp on the beach is of utmost essential for the safety of tourists frequenting here.
Shack owners said that if these facilities are not provided as the earliest, then it will hamper their business.