PANAJI
Following a police complaint by the Tourism Department, entrepreneur Ramanuj Mukherjee, in a sort of open letter to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, has appealed for action to address the issues impacting the tourism industry in Goa.
Mukherjee’s recent post on social media highlighting a decline in foreign tourist arrivals in Goa over recent years sparked a significant debate, with many influencers, travel blogs, and tourists commenting on the State’s declining tourism due to taxi mafias, inflated hotel and restaurant bills, and other issues.
On Sunday, Mukherjee took to ‘X’ to appeal to the Chief Minister to prioritise necessary reforms in the tourism sector. “I believe you (CM) must take bold steps,” he commented.
Pointing out that the Tourism Department had filed a police complaint against him for sharing data on the plummeting tourism in Goa, which started this debate, Mukherjee maintained that two cabinet ministers from Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s government had previously acknowledged a decline in tourist numbers during the 2024 Christmas-New Year season.
Mukherjee said that the virality of his post suggested that many were waiting for the opportunity to share their grievances. “Even if the data shared by me was incorrect, you must realise that the data itself did not make the post viral. This issue went viral because it led to an eruption of people’s feelings. Tourists went to Goa and felt cheated. They spoke about their grievances. People do not easily forget when they feel they were taken advantage of,” he said.
He added that the ongoing publicity wave would provide much-needed political momentum for the government to make the necessary changes that the State desperately needs to boost Goa’s tourism.
Referring to the complaint, the entrepreneur said, “If you have a political necessity to find a scapegoat in me, that I conspired with some Chinese propaganda site to hurt Goan tourism, I am ready to suffer the consequences.”
“But unfortunately, this will not solve any of your real problems. Maybe it will act like a temporary band-aid to your feelings at best.”
He said that silencing critics on social media is probably not the most important thing right now.
