PANAJI
The opposition benches on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte over wasteful expenditure on tourism promotion through international road shows and events but failing to attract enough tourists from those destinations. The State spent a whopping around Rs 20 crore on international road shows and events in 2023, while it only managed to attract 1.69 lakh foreign visitors.
The opposition, led by Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai, demanded that the State government release a White Paper detailing the expenditure and outcome of the international road shows, along with a pre-audit of all spending.
The Tourism Minister, however, deferred to agree that there is a decline in tourism footfall as he went on to add that Goa is witnessing a rise in tourist arrivals, both domestic and international, during the post-pandemic period. He even stated that there was a 138 per cent rise in foreign tourist arrivals in Goa in 2023 compared to 2022.
Not satisfied with the claim, Fatorda MLA and the tourism minister crossed swords on the floor of the House as the former demanded a complete ban on international promotional events and the holding of a Think-Tank at the state level. He also urged the Speaker to allow a half-hour discussion on tourism, which is a backbone of the State economy.
Former chief minister late Manohar Parrikar had assured the House of conducting a pre-audit of all promotional events. “However, no pre-audits are conducted. We demand a White Paper on the road shows and promotional events. We are spending on countries from where we get no tourists,” Sardesai said.
The Tourism Minister informed the House that in 2019, which was the pre-pandemic year, 71.27 lakh domestic tourists had arrived in Goa. This figure crossed 72 lakh in 2023.
He said the number of international travellers who visited Goa in the year 2019 stood at 9.37 lakh, which went down to 1.69 lakh in 2023 as the countries are still recovering from the pandemic impact.
“As of November 2024, 4.03 lakh foreign tourists have arrived in Goa, a rise of 138.69 per cent compared to the year 2023,” the minister added.
He said that Goa is highly dependent on tourists from the UK and Russia but the State decided to focus on Israel. “This year, we were expecting footfalls from Israel but due to the war with Hamas, the number got affected. We started from Uzbekistan; the first chartered flight came but the other didn’t,” the minister added.
Khaunte also said that Goa is facing tough competition from other states.
Meanwhile, Congress MLA Carlos Alvares Ferreira claimed that state Tourism Department delegations visit foreign destinations on junkets and this trend should be stopped.
“Road shows are just holiday junkets as there is no proper action plan and no data on the outcome of these shows,” he said pointing out that while road shows were held in countries like the US, Singapore, Japan, Spain, Berlin, Moscow, Goa saw no tourists coming from these countries.
The Minister, however, dismissed the allegation and said “international events are no longer business of junket but it is serious business”.
