Goa shack owners apprehensive of biz ahead of tourist season

Shack owners in Goa have expressed apprehensions due to increased taxation in the trade ahead of the tourist season in the state beginning September.
Goa has around 350-odd beach shacks which is a major tourist attraction especially for the foreigners.
Shack owners yesterday met state tourism minister Dilip Parulekar and put forth their demands to support their business and also urged the government to intervene and troubleshoot the problems.
"In the last (tourist) season, shack business was in losses. This time around we hope to make good business. We have kept our fingers crossed," Goa Shack Owners Welfare Society president Cruz Cardozo told PTI.

He said the increasing taxation in the trade is also proving fatal for the business.
"Excise fee has increased almost seven fold. We have to have our own toilet facility which costs Rs 2.5 lakh. The business is on the downfall and taxes on it are rising every year," he said.

Cardozo apprised that majority of the shack owners have not been able to recover their expenses of the last tourist season.
"... So we are finding it very difficult to raise funds to pay the amount of fees (charged by tourism department), which is 300 per cent more than last time. We are actually over-burdened with the fee structure," he said.

Shack owners also requested the government to permit them erect the structures (shacks) in September soon before tourists start arriving, instead October as they loss out on income for a month.