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Goa needs more branded accommodation

Tourism cannot take shape without private investments, and a passive approach to investors can be detrimental to the state’s development prospects. This fact got highlighted at the Goa International Tourism Mart 2010, as the state tourism ministry and department threw open discussions on private investment and public private partnership in the state.

In the past and now, the Goa tourism ministry and departments have faced a lot of flak for the lack of infrastructure, unorganised public transport systems and for trying to appease taxi and bus lobbies, who demand unreasonable and extortionist fares from tourists. It had also earned the notoriety of being a not-so-safe destination in the recent times.
But Nikhil U Desai, MD, Goa Tourism Development Corporation, says that the ball has been set rolling with the Goa ITM. “The government will plan ahead for building tourism-related infrastructure and facilities,” he says.

“There has been strong lobbying and demand in Goa for tourism-related infrastructure projects and we have decided that the government will play the role of facilitator and cheer the private sector to improve tourism in Goa,” he says.

Ralph de Sousa, chairman of the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (GCCI) committee on Tourism and former president Travel and Tourism Association of Goa says that tourism in Goa initially started as a people’s movement. “When the flower children came here in 1960s and 70s, it was the locals of Anjuna and Vagator, Calangute and Baga who offered their houses and even converted stables into makeshift accommodation. The government played its part by providing law and order.”

De Sousa says that this model will still work in Goa. The private sector’s expertise, dynamism and profit motives could be driving forces to achieve success in any project. The government, he says, can help the project follow rules and regulations, while acting as facilitator and the see that the project doesn’t go off-track.

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The challenge, according to Swapnil Naik, director, Goa Tourism, lies in converting one-time tourists into repeat clients. At present, 45% of Goa’s inbound tourists are repeat tourists. “We already have 718 chartered flights confirmed, each flight carrying around 250 to 300 people. We are expecting 3lakh foreign tourists this year, which will be the second highest number when compared to the year 2007-2008,” he adds.

Towards bringing in more tourists as well as investment opportunities, Desai says that Goa government plans to build a full-fledged golf course. “Other areas identified are marinas, green parks, a convention centre, entertainment parks and adventure sports where Goa would want private investment soon,” says Desai.

Emphasising the need for greater involvement of private players, he says they have the best manpower and access to investment and should be involved in development of tourism industry. Goa needs to offer new products for families as done by Singapore and other countries to ensure continuous tourists flow in the state, he adds.

This is far from the current reality in Goa and a lot of “wishful thinking” according to a few investors. “Goa is one of the most attractive tourist destinations, but there is a marked difficulty in acquiring land here for any kind of investment. Lack of clarity in land titles and tedious paper work discourages an investor from entering Goa. One would rather spend the money and time in another state which is friendlier and quicker with paper work,” says Dilip Puri, CEO, Duet Hotels India.

“Goa has only about 6.5% of the total supply of branded hotels in India,” says Vijay Thacker, director, Howarth HTL. “The national stock of branded hotel rooms in India is around 62,000 of which Goa has a mere 7,500. Compare it with 36,000 in Phuket and 60,000 in Dubai, it tells you a story. 6.5% is not a bad number, but the state has just three hotels that are of upscale standards. Even a Seychelles has more than 10,” he adds.

According to him, Goa needs to add at least 10,000 more rooms in addition to the present capacity, which would increase the revenues earned from tourism by `5000crores. He also says that Goa needs concerted efforts from the government’s part to strengthen the services sector in addition to the focus on leisure.

“We are planning a hop-on-hop-off bus system in Goa for to improve the public transport system in India, for which we are interested in private participation. Right now, we are planning it along with GTDC, but private partnership and investment is also welcome,” says Naik. “By the end of this season (march-April 2011) we should be able to see the system in place,” he adds.

“Goa needs to build the kind of infrastructure, which can tap tourists who visit the beaches of Sri Lanka, Seychelles and Mauritius,” says PR Srinivas, senior consultant, Deloitte India. He adds that investors are not going to enter Goa without good connectivity, better infrastructure and better public management.

The sociological and political set up in Goa creates a very peculiar state, where the lobbies play a major role when it comes to any kind of investment in the state. And the only way forward, according to private players seem to be a determined effort from the government’s part to circumvent the issues and get its act straight.