Panaji, Oct 4 (TNN): The long weekend brought thousands of tourists flying and driving into the state. The extended break which began on Thursday (Gandhi Jayanthi) will carry on till Monday, which is celebrated at Eid-ul-Zuha.
One could be forgiven for confusing the scenes at Calangute and Baga for Christmas week when Goa is flooded with tourists from all quarters of the world .
Massive traffic snarls were reported all over the North Goa coastal belt as well as beach belts of South Goa.
Hotels are running full and taxi operators and those with rent-a-bike businesses are doing as well as during peak season time.
So much so that operators had run out of bikes on hire in Panaji , Candolim and Calangute.
Santosh Chodankar, who runs a rent-a-bike business in Panaji, said everybody is making good money. "I have given out 20 bikes on rent," he said. Bikes that are otherwise rented out at 250 a day are costing anything from 700 to 1,000 a day since Thursday.
Taxi operators are also having a good run at the beginning of the season. They charge 2,500 onwards to hire a car for a full day.
Private cars have also been roped into business to reap unexpected foot falls. "This is more so in the coastal belt where many taxi owners have non-tourist taxis which they double as tourist taxis," said a taxi operator in Panaji.
Rooms in most of the hotels, especially, in the coastal belt and cities are sold out. Three-star hotels have charged upwards of 4,000 per night. Five star hotel also did not miss the opportunity to hike their rated.
Deepak Narvekar, public relations officer, Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC), said even the GTDC residence had 70-80 occupancy, and residencies in Margao, Miramar and Calangute were packed to capacity.
"It's completely packed," Calangute MLA Michael Lobo said, on the situation in the coastal areas.
A local pointed out that with the Chogm approach road to Calangute having been broadened, the number of vehicles coming into Calangute has increased, and more vehicles try to make their way to the beach in a shorter period of time, leading to bottlenecks as the roads in Calangute are narrow. Adding to the traffic woes is the ongoing work on the sewerage network.
It was a nightmare for regular commuters who were attempting to go to the markets or their places of work.
Tourists at Calangute, though, were unperturbed with the traffic, and seemed to be happy with the scenery. Reddy, a tourist from Talangana, said he was very happy with his first visit to Goa. "I had heard so much about Goa. The beach here is very clean and beautiful. I am very happy with the facilities available," he said, adding that he would return in six months.
With a large number of tourists coming from big metro cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata etc, the traffic jams did not really inconvenience them as they're used to traffic congestions in their home cities, although many locals were seen grumbling. But with many or almost all locals involved in the tourism industry in the northern coastal belt, they were resigned to the situation.