Mid 2017, there was a demand to pay the imposed PRECARIO amount, otherwise the resorts’ Tiki huts on the beaches, will be subject to demolition.
At that time, GOA imposed a RENTAL fee per square meter on the beach, WITHOUT cleaning it, maintaining it or policing it; no life-guards, no first-aid, no trash cans, no replenishment of sand, that was all on the hotels’ dime!
And mind you, the beach is not a kiosk or a permanent money-making structure for the resorts, on the contrary. The beach is a service they provide their guests, including chairs and shade. And to run that operation, the resorts offer employment to dozens of people, and spend vast amounts of cash for upkeep.
But the argument was, and is, that it is GOA’s land, and an exploitation fee must be levied.
The resorts did not object to the charge, they originally protested the crazy amounts, but at the end were happy to pay a lump sum, when the pay scale was modified. One GM told me his property was charged in excess of, gulp, Awg 360.000, per year.
Basically, you understand that they are paying GOA considerable amounts for chairs and umbrellas.
So where do we stand on weddings, and banquets and event?
Well, that is an additional charge.
And GOA set it at Awg 135 per square meter, per event, requiring each an INDIVIDUAL PERMIT every time you set up a beach wedding, which is probably 100 times a year per resort, and every time you host anything from beach Olympics to welcome receptions, and those are numerous every day, at all properties.
Some friendly lawyer I spoke to explained the resorts have reluctantly accepted that policy, GOA needs money and is leaning heavily on them. But what they find is unbearable, is the BUREAUCRACY.
You have to fill a form, attach a business permit, a tax number, a valid KVK, an ID, file it in personally, no electronic options, pay the amount, get a copy, get it stamped, wait for the paper-pushers to push the papers, then collect the permit, ahead of each function, hundreds of times a year.
(And if a function is rained out. Do you get a refund?)
You get my drift: The insistence on individual permits creates a bureaucratic hell. The resorts have to hire permit-chasers, then GOA must recruit permit-processors, more paperwork, more lost docs, more opportunity for corruption to rear its ugly head.
Why not charge a flat fee for beach events.
Some of the resorts reported the Police has been making rounds to enforce that hellish, cumbersome policy.
Their time would be better served if they policed Fisherman’s Huts to see if the watersport company owners of the ugly shipping containers are in compliance of their agreements, to move further inland and ‘create more open beach areas.’
As it stands right now, Fishermen’s Huts beach is no longer visible from the road, it is completely blocked by containers. Who will police that?
