PANAJI
Yet another law mooted by the Goa tourism ministry to promote and regulate the sector -- The Goa Tourism Promotion, Management and Regulation Bill 2023 -- may have to go through a trimming-and-refining overhaul as a number of provisions in it either overlap with regulations of existing laws, duplicate compliances for those in the tourism trade or simply keep roles of the various authorities undefined.
Straight up, some sections of the State's tourism industry fear that several provisions of the new bill mandates additional registration compliances even for entities that are already registered with the government under the earlier prevailing Goa Registration of Tourist Trade Act, 1982.
This new law should deem as 'registered' those business entities and tourism units already registered under the 1982 law, else it would disturb fair play and amount to 'double levy' of fees and processing of documents, according to a tourism entrepreneur who is in discussions with officials of the Tourism department.
"It goes against the principles of 'ease of doing business' and creates unnecessary hurdles for tourism entrepreneurs," he said, adding that over the next few days formal discussions are expected on a number of problem areas in the bill with officials of the tourism ministry.
Another provision in the new law which has raised eyebrows in industry circles is the one that mandates obtaining permits to conduct events as the definition of 'event' in it lacks clarity.
"Only those that are commercial, are ticketed and have an 'entry charge' targeting tourists should require permits," the sources said, adding that the definition in the bill is ambiguous and leaves scope for misinterpretation to include areas which are outside the ambit of tourism.
Some other sections that the industry wants trimmed or re-worded pertain to the levy of 2 per cent of the tourism unit's invoice value and the penalties which the industry feels are too steep.
This 2 per cent levy will add a burden on an already highly taxed industry which is taxed by multiple agencies, including local bodies such as panchayats and municipalities levying per-room charges on hotels under the guise of waste management services.
No other State, including Kerala and Rajasthan, which are stiff competitors to Goa levy such a fee on tourism stakeholders in their respective States, they argued.
Meanwhile, sources in the tourism trade's apex representative body -- Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) -- said that they expect to engage with the tourism ministry soon to iron out the rough edges in the proposed bill.
