This is surprising but true that there has been a constant increase in tourist flow in the state in the last couple of years but the tourism sectors kept recording only the losses, why? You will be shocked to know that…
According to one survey done by the KPMG (Klynveld, Peat, Marwick, and Goerdeler) despite growth in the tourist’s footfall in Goa for the last couple of years, the hoteliers are reporting a decline in their occupancy rate.
The agency has revealed that the main reason behind the losses shown by Goa’s tourism industry is due to the illegal accommodations and unregistered activities going on within the sector.
The report based on a survey conducted by government-appointed private agency KPMG, states that Goa has recorded a growth in tourism footfall in the last few years, yet hoteliers are reporting a decline in their occupancy rate.
“This paradox seems largely due to the prevalence of informal/unregistered activities. For accommodations, for instance, this report estimates more than 70 percent of rooms available in Goa are out of the radar from official data, this may include unregistered hotels, unregistered rooms, or second homes rented to tourists on online platforms. As a consequence, given the inflation in the number of available rooms, formally registered units are facing harsher and harsher competition. The cake might get bigger since the absolute number of tourists is increasing but the pieces are getting smaller as more businesses are competing,” the report titled “Coping With COVID-19 – Survival And Revival Of Goa’s Tourism Industry”, states.
Another reason behind the losses could be the quality of tourism that is declining with time. It means the total volume of tourists has been increasing while the value brought to Goa by them seems to be on a decline. It explained that more tourists may be coming to Goa but they spend less.
“It is undeniable that the universalization of Goa as a tourism destination has brought to the State larger masses of tourists which could not have afforded traveling one decade ago. While this might be positive from a social perspective, for Goa this trend has implied more volume but not necessarily significantly more profit. The core of the problem seems to be more about quality than quantity,” it said.
According to the reports the trend will be changing in the future and in reality, the number of tourists will be coming down drastically due to the pandemic. The airplane, trains, and other modes of public transport will be allocated a limited number of seats due to social distancing norms which may be two-third of the actual capacity. This will not only reduce the domestic tourists but it will also affect the foreign tourists flow in the state.
The report estimates that in the year 2019, Goa generated Rs 12,681 cr of revenue from tourism activities. To maintain the same level of revenue with fewer tourists the report suggested increasing the average amount spent per tourist. As per the analysis of the present report, tourists in Goa spent on an average of Rs 9,016 per trip and per visitor in 2019.
The agency arrived at these figures based on the estimation that the actual tourist footfall in 2019 year was about 1.5 cr against only 89 lakh as per official figures. To come up with this figure, the research team also took into consideration the volume of tourism generated by unregistered activities (particularly accommodations) which, as of now, had remained unaccounted for.
“If footfall was to decrease by 50 percent, the average amount spent per tourist should double and reach Rs 18,032. This would require a major shift for Goa in terms of product offering and profile of visitors,” it said.
According to the reports, from 2014 to 2018 the number of Indian tourists doubled from 4 million to 8 million while the number of foreign tourists increased by almost 80% from 5 lakhs to 9 lakhs.
Source: Heraldo
