AERIAL VIEW
Mr Shah, do you know what the prevailing hotel room charges are in Goa? It is three to four times that of the normal rates. I don’t find any meters for slab on room rents; the hotels are charging as per their whims and fancies. Isn’t it? If Mr Shah does not know, I would be happier to show him the mirror.
Secondly, as the tourist lands in Goa or departs, he has to pay through his nose for a tea or small snack at the airport. A normal 10-20 rupees tea in a city hotel would cost you Rs 210 at teh airport? A samosa or a sandwich at the Goa airport costs Rs 250? Does this make sense, Mr Shah?
Agreed, many tourists complain of loot by the taxi operators or, as you call “taxi mafia”, but can we call you hotel mafia? When they charge 10 times more during peak season?
Editor, Goemkarponn
In an interview with a local channel, the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) President Nilesh Shah has called for cracking down on taxis not using taxi meters since this affects tourism in Goa. The association also said that Goa needs to welcome the Ola-Uber services.
“If more transport services are made available in Goa, it will help the tourists and locals. Like today, if one goes out at night, it will be very difficult and expensive to get a cab. Hence Goa must have more services,” Shah said.
Mr Shah, you seemed to be ill-informed or maybe deliberately want to ignore the facts or the misdeeds of the other Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) communities.
Mr Shah, do you know what the prevailing hotel room charges are in Goa? It is three to four times that of the normal rates. I don’t find any meters for slab on room rents; the hotels are charging as per their whims and fancies. Isn’t it? If Mr Shah does not know, I would be happier to show him the mirror.
Secondly, as the tourist lands in Goa or departs, he has to pay through his nose for a tea or small snack at the airport. A normal 10-20 rupees tea in a city hotel would cost you Rs 210 at teh airport? A samosa or a sandwich at the Goa airport costs Rs 250? Does this make sense, Mr Shah?
Agreed, many tourists complain of loot by the taxi operators or, as you call “taxi mafia”, but can we call you hotel mafia? When they charge 10 times more during peak season?
The high-end tourists arrive mostly by air in Goa, and they have no issues paying thousands of rupees to the airline, but why do they not want to pay the taxi guys?
Airlines sometimes charge 10 to 20 times more than a normal ticket. Are they justified?
Why should the taxi operators not get the benefit of surge pricing? Is the surge pricing proprietory only with the airlines and hotels?
Recently, I went to two places, one in Shimla, a world-renowned tourist destination, where there are no Ola and Uber and no meters. The taxi union is so strong there that if one driver has told you a price of Rs 1000 for a 5 km drive, others will follow and will not budge. That is their unity, and the government supports them because it knows they cannot provide jobs to everyone.
Similarly, just last week, I happened to be in Baroda and had to go to Anand junction, which is just 45 kilometres, and the taxi driver said the charge would be Rs 2500. So upset with the whopping charge, I decided to call Uber and Ola. The app showed a charge of Rs 900, but when the driver called me, he said he could not go there as the charge would be around Rs 2500 since we do not get return passengers. So finally I had to pay Rs 2500. But to my nightmare, during my return journey, I booked Uber again, he too told me he would charge me Rs 2500 as he had to pay toll taxes and airport charges. Well, this is called loot Mr Shah.
At least in Goa, taxis charge Rs 1200 from Calangute to Airport, which is half the price for two way journey. Still reasonable, Mr Shah?
Thirdly, the same tourists pay Rs 300 for a beer pint in shacks on the beach. Don’t they feel the pinch for such an exorbitant price there?
All said and done, Goa is becoming too costly, be it hotels, airlines, taxis, shacks, restaurants, etc. It is high time the TTAG takes a general view and does not single out the taxi operators. After all, the charity begins at home, so Mr Shah, please tell hoteliers to follow one rate and only then target the taxi operators.
