PANAJI
As domestic and international tours continue to remain on Tourism Department's agenda, yet a question lingers: When will the long-talked-about quality tourism materialise?
Lakshadweep, whose popularity has overtaken Maldives after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit, still managed to uphold its regulations wherein every visitor must register to obtain a permit, providing details of arrival, departure and duration of stay.
Moreover, in a recent decision, both Kodaikanal and Ooty hill stations have mandated e-passes to not only regulate access but also monitor the influx of vehicles and duration of stays.
With this, the question arises if such measures can refine the caliber of tourists coming down to Goa. Stakeholders adamantly assert that the current system should persist but a sharp focus should be maintained on improving the basic infrastructure.
Chief Operating Officer at Sita Travels Ernest Dias commended other destinations for adopting these strategies while quickly admitting these are not possible for Goa at this stage of tourism.
"We could have talked about it many years back. Today Goa caters to all kinds of tourists because of which, the smallest of the accommodations can run their business. If the restrictions are introduced, the guesthouses, lodges, etc will suffer," he stated.
Dias went on to make a strong suggestion that Goa needs to build good infrastructure and improve public transportation on a rapid scale to upgrade this sector.
"The public transport system is poor... The beaches are not clean and parking spaces are not maintained... there are places where toilets are unavailable or not maintained," he lamented adding, "(Government/ authorities need to) Put the infrastructure in place to attract quality tourism."
The President of Travel and Tourism Association of Goa Jack Sukhija also had a similar suggestion such as creating centralised parking lots at major tourist spots and providing affordable local transportation options like buses, minivans, motorcycle pilots, or bicycle rentals.
"However it is important that the local transport issues and centralised parking lots start together. For example, we have a centralized parking lot at the entrance of Panaji but no affordable, reliable and efficient public transport," Sukhija added, suggesting improvement.
Likewise, the past President of TTAG Nilesh Shah emphasized the importance of tourism in Goa along with the need for infrastructure to accommodate tourists of all budgets.
"We require well-behaved tourists in Goa," he reiterated. "We can't think of putting restrictions although tourists need to be continually educated about rules and regulations," he said.
Sukhija added that while an e-pass system could provide data on tourist arrivals and stays, 'an online system that is quick and efficient, taking no more than two-minutes to fill out and issuing passes immediately' should be in place, if implemented.
