Karan Sehgal
PANAJI
The long weekend starting with Independence Day on August 15, has brought some relief to the travel industry, as a number of tourists have already arrived in Goa.
But, hoteliers are still charging lower tariffs than they would have charged otherwise to keep the occupancy rates high, especially after they struggled to find tourists in July.
Interestingly, for residents of Mumbai and elsewhere in Maharashtra, the 5-day stretch from August 15-19, is a long weekend with August 15 (Independence Day) and August 17 (Parsi New Year) being holidays in the state of Maharashtra.
Due to this, the number of domestic tourists in Goa is going to be high between August 15 and 19.
Nikheel Shirodkar, general manager, ibis Styles in Calangute, said, “Overall, even though occupancy rates in hotels are as high as 80% between August 15 and August 19, tariffs are lower than last year.”
He continued, “I’m not saying that we are seeing a bad trend. But, the expectations were much higher. I think it happened because August 15 is a Wednesday this time. So, it makes it a five-day long weekend. On an average, a domestic tourist doesn’t spend more than 3 days in Goa. For hotels, it makes more sense if a public holiday is on a Thursday, Friday or a Monday.”
A number of sources pointed out that the number of tourists in July this year was lower compared to July in the previous year.
Regardless of lower tariffs, what has brought respite to tourism industry is that at least tourists are coming to Goa between August 15 and 19 after a weak July.
Mohammad Azharul Haque, general manager, Hotel Fidalgo, said, “We are having an occupancy rate of 80% from August 15 to 19. Being a city hotel, it is the corporate traveller segment, which accounts for most of our clientele during this weekend.”
Polly D’Cruz, general manager, the Golden Crown Hotel and Spa in Colva, said, “We are having an occupancy rate of 80-90% during this weekend thanks mostly to domestic tourists from Mumbai.”
