Goa hotel sector urges early reopening

Panaji, June 20 (IANS) The Goa government’s failure to reopen hotels as per the central government’s ‘Unlock 1’ guidelines, has attracted criticism from the hospitality industry.

Nitin Shah, president of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa, the state’s oldest body of travel and tourism industry, here on Saturday, said failure of the state government to restart the hotel segment would cause more job losses and mental health issues.

Any further delay would lead to job losses, mental health issues and starvation and that would be more dangerous for the state, Shah said.

“All hotels and restaurants were to reopen on June 8. Many hotels in other cities in the country have reopened for business. But in Goa, it has been 13 days that the industry is awaiting the government’s nod to restart,” he said.

He urged the state government to allow opening of hotels, bars and restaurants on an urgent basis.

Of the thousands of hotels, only 200 have applied for permission for resumption of services with proper SOPs in place. “Thousands are waiting in the wings to see what is going to happen,” Shah said.

The tourism industry that accounted for 40 per cent of Goa’s gross domestic product, directly and indirectly, was caught in a jam, he said. “The direct and indirect economic impact of the tourism industry is estimated at 40 per cent of the state GDP, including the multiplier effect,” Shah said.

–IANS

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