the goan I network
PANAJI
After cold-shouldering the industry ever since he took charge in 2017, Tourism
Minister Manohar Babu Ajgaonkar admitted tourism was on the decline and advocated greater interface and co-operation between the two sides - government and industry associations - to revive
the crucial Goan economic activity.
Ajgaonkar broke ice with industry captains, big and small, including representatives of trade associations at a meeting he chaired on Wednesday and discussed a plethora of issues affecting the industry, a month after he was lampooned by the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) amidst dwindling tourist footfalls.
Ajgaonkar allayed the anxieties of the hospitality industry and urged all concerned to work unitedly to resolve the issues which will lead to a rising graph for footfalls in Goa.
Emerging out of the meeting, Ajgaonkar said: “We had a very fruitful deliberation today with tourism stakeholders and I welcome all their inputs and suggestions for improving tourism in Goa. That there is a drop in tourist arrivals needs to be looked into seriously and whatever problems are identified will be looked into jointly taking into confidence all the tourism associations and stakeholders.”
During the meeting, tourism stakeholders urged Ajgaonkar to look into issues like unreasonable fare charged by taxi operators, high GST, parking problems for long halt flights at Dabolim Airport, high VISA charges, among others.
Travel and Tourism Association of Goa president, Savio Messias, said he urged Ajgaonkar to send professionals, instead of babus and officials of the department to market the State as a destination at international trade fairs and marts which Goa participates in across the globe.
“Often, government officials are taken around the world, which is not a professional approach. They should have a dedicated team of professionals to market Goa. We also need to know what the feedback is after each of the trips,” Messias said.
“We are also against the idea of going to trade fairs in destinations like Bulgaria and Romania, which hardly send tourists to Goa. There has to be some logic behind participating in these travel fairs. We should concentrate on the traditional feed markets and understand the reasons behind the declining numbers,” he added.
Goa is going through probably its worst tourism season ever due to a significant drop in the number of foreign tourist arrivals.
At the same time, the State Government has not succeeded in finding a solution to issues like taxi problem, bad infrastructure for tourists, lack of cleanliness, etc.
