As the new tourist season kicks off and charter flights bring in foreign tourists, industry stakeholders are hoping the slump in business of the Covid years is finally behind them. Jack Sukhija, President of TTAG, felt the season would be more positive than last year. The number of charter flights from Russia had gone up and new charters had started from Poland. In addition he said the English were expected to double from 20,000 last year to around 40,000 this year. In addition there would be events like Serendipity and IFFI which would add to the business.
The GM of Beleza By The Beach in Colva, Rocque Mascarenhas said his destination was a popular destination for weddings and he expected business to be pretty decent during the season. He said, “We depend on independent travellers for business. Goa needs to be promoted aggressively and earlier we used to get 50 per cent of our business from outside. That has gone down, and foreign clientele is required. We now get a lot of domestic tourists who stay for 3-4 days. They come from Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai. We will get them in large numbers this year too.”
The executive at Seashell Villas and Luxury Suites Candolim Beach Goa said the hotel was frequented by foreigners from Russia, UK and domestic tourists. Business now was a little slow but he expected it to pick up dramatically in November and December. .
The season was looking very promising for Iqbal Hasan, who is in charge of sales at the Caravela Beach Resort. He said, “We have a lot of domestic parties with a few international ones thrown in. Now the charters are landing and the demand is increasing. The business and exhibitions market lasts 45 days and we have events. Goa is often a last-minute booking, as it's in competition with Sri lanka, Vietnam, Maldives and Malaysia. Despite all of this, business will be good.”
Anand Chatterjee, the GM of Planet Hollywood, said, “I expect the season to be good. with the charters coming in early and with domestic tourism booming it should be good. I hope it continues. The addition of new flights in Mopa will help us. For us we get domestic tourists who make up 75 to 80 percent and the rest from the cis countries . I hope the overall situation remains the same and nothing drastic happens which could affect us all."
Russian tourists are still important to the Goan market. Vincent Fernandes, the GM of Shikara Beach Resort in Cavelossim, said the season was looking good with the increase in the number of charter flights compared to last year. He said, “ We focus on Russian charters and this year we will also get domestic tourists coming for the exposition. The foreign tourist stays for 7 days at a minimum and 28 nights at the very maximum. The domestic tourist stays for a maximum of 2 days in the north and 2 days in the south."
Similar sentiments were expressed by Kapil Agnithotri in charge of rooms at Royal Orchid Beach Resort and Spa in Utorda. He however said October would not be as good for him. November and December would be ok. He said the domestic market would drive business and he expected numbers to be similar to last year. Earlier they would depend on charters but now the domestic market was driving business.
Not everyone however had happy things to say. Dharmendra Rajput an executive at CASA Anjuna said Nov and Dec would be good. He said they had multiple properties in Baga, Anjuna and Vagator. From Diwali, he felt business would be good. Anjuna was popular with their German guests while the other two were with domestic tourists. The Germans he said would come in towards the end of Oct and November. Business he said would be good but he hoped there would be no adverse factors that would affect the business later.