Villas emerging as ‘villains’ in Goa’s tourism revival?

Panaji, Dec 31 : Goa’s stunning villas which dot the countryside, may well be emerging as the fancy villains in the coastal state’s tourism story which has been marred in recent times by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Increasing demand among tourists travelling to Goa in groups, for standalone rental villas and plush bungalows, has led to consternation among the regularised hotel sector, which has now alleged that the proliferation of villas for rent in the state was proving to be a revenue leakage factor for Goa’s tourism economy.
The key problem according to president of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa president Nitin Shah, is that most villas are registered as domestic units and provide unfair competition to hotels, which are licenced and pay commercial charges for state government-provided utilities and other fees.
“Those who run these villas pay domestic water and power charges, which are substantially subsidised by the government. They are also not licenced with the Goa Tourism department and therefore skip official due diligence, which commercial hotels have to undergo to meet licencing standards. The government hardly earns any revenue from a villa as compared to a regular hotel,” Shah told IANS.
“There is no revenue accrued to the government in form of GST too. A registered hotel operator follows all norms and obtains all licences after payment of structured fees,” he also said.
Fancy villas, either traditional Goan homes renovated with modern amenities or new swanky bungalows with multiple rooms with plush outfittings, have been particularly in demand among visiting tourists during the pandemic.