GOA: BEACHED TOURISM
The beachside resorts look deserted, the nightclubs are shut, the casino craps tables are empty. At 5 per cent, Goa’s hotels have seen occupancy rates hit rock bottom. A sharp rise in Covid-19 cases since mid-May has decimated the tourism industry and the state economy. With a 40 per cent share in the state’s economy, tourism had been its backbone since the Supreme Court imposed a ban on iron ore mining in March 2017.
Goa registered its first Covid-19 case on March 26 and had only seven active cases till mid-May when it reopened for travellers, lifting restrictions. Since then, it has seen an average of 200 new cases daily. The total number of cases stood at 5,002 on July 27. Goa’s infection rate is also 1.5 per cent higher than the national average.
Vasco-da-Gama, Sankhali, Mapusa and Cortalim remain the worst-affected areas; night curfew from 8 pm to 6 am is on in the entire state till August 10. Fear of the disease is also taking a psychological toll: on July 18, a couple from Vasco were thrown out of Goa Medical College because they had come from a containment zone, even though they had turned up to get treatment for the woman’s back problem.
The government allowed hotels to reopen on July 1 at the insistence of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa. But there’s very little business. “We’ve had a few inquiries but no guests so far,” says a hotel owner in Panaji. Rural development minister Michael Lobo, who owns a five-star resort in Calangute, says resorts and hotels used to have 80 per cent occupancy even in the rainy season, when [typically] domestic tourists visit the state. But the pandemic has ruined any such hopes for this year. Lobo says the hoteliers now expect the season to start from October when the foreigners arrive. “We have received some bookings for October to December. Hopefully, tourism will see a revival by then,” he says.
Independent MLA Rohan Khaunte says the few tourist footfalls are limited to the offshore casinos. “The money does not reach the shores; there’s no trickledown for the subsidiary sectors,” he says.
Goa’s revenue deficit stood at 74 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal. The state is also yet to receive the Goods and Services Tax (GST) refund of Rs 910 crore from the Centre. With no funds to even pay staff salaries, the state borrowed Rs 900 crore from the market in June to meet daily expenses. Credit rating agency India Ratings & Research predicted in June that Goa could see the severest contraction among states in FY21—Goa’s GSDP is seen contracting by as much as 14 per cent.
Activist and Goa Foundation director Claude Alvares argues that the state could overcome the economic crisis if it recovers the Rs 3,431 crore royalty dues from mining companies in the state. The figure is based on demand notices sent by the Goa government in 2016 and 2017. On July 18, Alvares sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi pointing out that the Goa government had recovered only Rs 3.99 crore so far. ‘Goa is bankrupt and the government is regularly issuing security bonds to raise money for salaries… if the sum of Rs 3,431.31 crore is recovered, many of the financial problems facing the state would find relief,’ he stated in the letter.
The opposition Goa Forward Party (GFP) chief Vijai Sardesai says the government is in panic mode. Speaking to reporters in Panaji in June, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant of the BJP said he had “apprised the PM of the state’s weak economy and demanded a stimulus package”. Of late, Sawant has also had run-ins with governor Satya Pal Malik over the handling of the epidemic. After taking flak for the spiralling Covid cases in his constituency, Sankhali, Sawant appealed to his voters, “Bhivpachi garaj na (No need to get scared).” As the state’s economy crumbles, that assurance may prove to be casual bravado.