PANAJI
Following the whopping 400 per cent increase in charges for approval of plans for weddings and other events on Goa's beaches, there is a sense of discomfort in the community of event managers and planners who help to organise these.
Previously, event planners had to pay around Rs 1 lakh for five days, but now the fee has been raised to Rs 1 lakh per day.
A top event planner based in South Goa expressed concern over the magnitude of the hike in fees saying it will impact business.
He nonetheless added that the fee hike may not be of much concern to big budget parties of wealthy clients mostly from North India.
According to him, the rich clients and corporate head honchos, often host lavish weddings and events on beaches where such costs hardly matter.
"The hike in fees may however impact business and lead to a drop in bookings in the low-budget layer and some may even shift their already booked weddings and events to other locations where costs are lower," he said.
The challenges, notwithstanding, its reputation and brand equity as a top coastal destination see Goa continuing to attract wedding and other beach events here, he added.
Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Benaulim MLA, Venzy Viegas questioned the logic behind the massive quantum of the hike.
"400 per cent hike in fees from Rs one-lakh for a five-day event to now Rs one-lakh for each day beats all economic logic," said Viegas, whose Benaulim constituency has several beaches which host such beach weddings and events.
"Such a massive hike in fees should have entailed some facilities for the licencee such as CCTV-backed security measures and sanitation facilities like wash basins and mobile toilets," Viegas argued.
Meanwhile, there is another set of event managers and planners who feel the hike in fees may not impact their business much.
"As against the size of budgets clients earmark to hold beach events here in Goa, this hike in fees is negligible and will not hamper the business," said an executive of a top-league event management company.
Earlier this week, the Goa government's Environment Department that licence fees and permissions for weddings and events on beaches in Goa will now be Rs one lakh per day.
Until today, the fees were Rs one lakh per event of up to five days with an additional Rs 10,000 charged per day thereafter.
The fees have been revised through a notification issued by the Environment Department wherein it said 'scrutiny fees' will be charged at the rate of Rs one-lakh per day when applications routed through the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) are approved.
Formerly these fees were Rs one-lakh for each event and it could be stretched for up to five days without any additional charges.
