A half-hearted attempt at tourism resumption

NT NETWORK

Panaji

Domestic tourism in the state made a feeble start on Thursday after a hiatus of more than three months with the first lot of 250 hotels given permission to operate by the government doing a half-hearted job of the re-opening.

Hotels opened but did not admit guests although they are permitted to accept bookings from day 1.

A majority of hoteliers said that they are in a readying mode as they prepare to function with restrictions for operating during the ongoing pandemic.

The hoteliers also said that they waited for communication from the tourism department on the standard operating procedure for reopening which came in late.

“It will take at least two weeks to complete the sanitising, social distancing norms and other SOP processes,” Sanjay Naik, general manager of the Colva-based   Bay Watch Resort said, adding that hotels have to change their seating arrangements at the lobby, reception and restaurants as part of the SOP.

“The reopening of hotels is just a beginning, but realistically speaking we do not expect guests till August,” maintained Naik, whose resort is one of the first few hotels in the state to approach the government to restart tourism.

The government is waiting to see whether tourism takes off in the state if hotels are permitted to function. However, local hoteliers said that they expect “slow business” for at least the next three months.

“The reopening is just an exercise to tell tourists to come in the future. In the month of July we do not expect business. But later on, we may see business coming in,” former TTAG president and hotelier Francisco Braganza said.

Of the 3,835 hotels in the state, the government on July 1 gave permission to only 250 hotels to reopen. Eight other hotels have applied for permission to conduct tourist activities.

The ongoing pandemic has hit hotels and other stakeholders in the Goan tourism industry badly.

“Hotels had closed their operations completely in

the three months of lockdown. It is going to be a new beginning, almost a re-launch,” Naik reckoned.

Several of the 250 hotels that received the go-ahead to start from Thursday had already started training staff to deal with guests under pandemic conditions.

The SOP put up on the tourism department website are numerous with separate guidelines for hotels, tourist and public.

Pre-booking by the tourists is mandatory to enter the state. Tourists need not undergo quarantine on arrival if they carry a negative COVID-19 certificate issued within 48 hours; or they can opt to get themselves tested at the entry point at own cost.

The safety and hygiene guidelines issued by the state for the local tourism industry runs into 52 pages.

The Travel and Tourism Association of Goa has said the government’s decision to open the state to domestic tourists is “good as it is a matter of livelihood to nearly one third of the populace”.

Meanwhile, sources at the Dabolim airport on Thursday said the airport will be open fully for domestic tourists from July 8.

“Airlines are not operating all the domestic sectors. The Mumbai-Goa sector is expected to open up shortly, and we expect domestic tourists to arrive only from next week,” said an airport source. 

On day 1 of the state opening its doors to tourism, the state received a total of 223 passengers disembarking at the airport.

They included 46 passengers from Bangalore, 167 from Delhi and 10 passengers from Mysore.