Most Goa Hotels To Postpone Reopening Till End Of Year

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More than twenty-five days after the Goa government allowed hotels to operate, most hotels have decided to postpone its reopening until October to November this year.

A majority of hoteliers said that it was not “business sense” to work with minimal occupancy, so they decided to wait until September to answer the call.

Vinay Albuquerque, director of Alcon Resort Holdings pvt Ltd., which operates some star hotels in South and North Goa, said that although they have permission to operate, they have decided to wait until mid-October.

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“People have lost jobs. People are also afraid of flying. The last thing you think about during the pandemic is vacation, ”said Albuquerque.

And they are not hotels that suffer. “The situation will not change unless there is a decrease in the number of cases,” said John Lobo, secretary general of the Shack Owners’ Welfare Society. “Everyone is afraid to get infected. If there is no improvement, there may even be no beach huts in the coming tourism season. It depends on what the government decides. “

Meanwhile, Vice President of the North Goa Tourist Taxi Owners’ Association, Ravindra Vengurlekar, said he would not operate his taxi for next year. “We are completely against resuming tourism. Most of us can afford not to take a taxi for so long, ”he said.

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Hotels that started operations this month are underused according to industry experts. “Your room occupancy is less than 10%, although you may not admit openly,” he said.

After a decline in international arrivals in recent years, the star hotels in Goa have focused on wedding and corporate destinations, incentives, conferences and events (MICE).

In this pandemic, Menon pointed out that technology has the upper hand. Certainly, companies will prefer zoom conferencing to a conference at any vacation destination. “We are very confident from the start that we will not start operations before October,” he said.

Prasad Kanoth, deputy managing director of the Ramada Caravela Beach Resort in South Goa, also said that it was not possible to start operations with only 5 to 10% room occupancy.

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In addition, the SOPs, which oblige hotels to keep leisure activities closed, discourage people’s likely travel plans.

“We have to take small steps to open the industry that has had the greatest success of the pandemic. I don’t think we can think of starting operations before September, ” Prasad said.


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Manish Khandelwal
Manish Khandelwal

Manish Khandelwal, a travel-tech enthusiast with over a decade of experience in the travel industry. Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Travelobiz.com, he's passionate about writing.

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