Will tourists continue to be fleeced and the same chaos prevail this season? (Herald)

Will tourists continue to be fleeced and the same chaos prevail this season?

15 Sep, 2014, 11:51PM IST

 Apart from tourism stakeholders, touts, drug peddlers and dependents, the rest of Goa must be dreading another tourist season which is on the anvil. Dreading, because tourist season has come to mean excruciatingly blaring music festivals, traffic chaos, indiscipline tourists, garbage and sheer chaos. The touts will be out on the streets practising their 100metre runs to ensnare tourists at the Mandovi bridge. Amidst the lack of centralised information database on Goan hotels of different categories, touts perennially lead unsuspecting tourists to hotels of their choice where they get maximum commissions, not necessarily the best infrastructure. 

Unlike in other tourist destinations such as Mahableshwar and Kerala where there is absolute unity and decency among hoteliers, stakeholders inform that there is fixed 15 percent commission. One tour operator stated that in Goa every attempt is made to undercut the next hotel by offering discounts between 15 to 30 percent, sometimes even 35 percent, with the  result, they get low budget tourists. This is due to the unregulated growth of hotels which have been allowed to come up every few metres, without a proper inclusive and extensively discussed tourism policy. The government should determine the number of such hotels and restaurants for a zone, if undercutting of hotels or restaurants and indiscipline has to stop.

A central database of hotels and restaurants will greatly help tourism by introducing transparency in rates, amenities and eliminate undesirable elements such as touts.

The second major thorn in the side of Goa’s tourism, according to hoteliers, travel agents and tourists are the exorbitant taxi fares in Goa. There are ample number of complaints from tourists of being fleeced. Fares from the airport to Calangute are around Rs 1200, while from Panjim to Calangute they are Rs 600. From Salcete hotel belt to Bardez beach belt it is over Rs 1500. A simple indication of the dissatisfaction of tourists with taxi operators is their taking to self drive two wheelers, who are reaping a windfall. The Ola cab operators who tried to offer competitive services at relatively lower fares were stonewalled by the mobilising of large number of taxi drivers who pressurised Calangute, Velim, Benaulim and other MLAs and even gheraoed other MLAs who spoke against them in the Legislative Assembly. Though the government took care of the political pressure of this vote bank, how is the government going to provide affordable and designated fares to tourists and locals alike to uphold the interest of the people of Goa and tourists to have fares affordable? Will government fix fares and see that they are adhered to with strict vigil by the RTO?

Similarly, Food and Drug administration inspectors should check the quality of food served in restaurants and shacks. Several decades after the hippie revolution, Goa needs to have a much better, efficient, transparent services besides ensuring the safety of tourists in Goa with good policing. Harassment whether from the police, touts, beggars, hawkers or taxi drivers should be avoided at all costs. 

All stakeholders should realise that too much of greed will kill the industry. In the taxi business, there is no reason why the tourist taxi operators cannot operate on the same fares as offered by Ola cabs with radio system and point to point fares. The present taxi operators charge high fares for both ways and even if they get a passenger on the return journey, they still charge him stiff fares to make a fast buck. ‘Taxi Singapore’ has a website which informs types of taxis, rates.  It has a taxi app, fare calculator, complaints forum, car pooling etc. Any one can either hail a taxi anywhere or make a phone booking with one of the many taxi companies. In Singapore, taxi cab fares must be charged by the taxi meter and are based on ajavascript:changeDisplayState('moreblock1') flag down rate and the distance travelled. In Thailand, before the introduction of the 'Taxi Meter' one could spend 10 minutes arguing over the price of a journey. That's all changed, and taxi meters are standard as far as cost is concerned, completely streamlining the service.

The selling point of Goa’s tourism services should be competitive pricing and efficiency of services. Customers should have a pleasant experience and want to avail of the services yet again. Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar should realise that he should look around the coastal belt, roll up his sleeves and stem the illegalities and fix the chaos. He should realise that no amount of mega music festival here and road shows and jaunts abroad, which he so fiercely defends, can improve Goa’s image. Government as the regulator should ensure discipline. Services should get better every year, so that Goa tourism gets a good name. Otherwise all the fanfare will be public money down the drain.

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