PANAJI
Union Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar on Saturday said the annual tourist arrival in the State will cross the 6 million mark before the BJP government completes its term in 2017.
Parrikar was speaking just after inaugurating the renovated Panjim Residency. He said, “When BJP came to power in 2000, the annual tourist arrival was just 12.8 lakh. When we left in 2005, the count had increased to 25 lakh showing an annual growth of 25.6 per cent".
He said, “Prior to our first government, the annual growth rate in tourist arrival was just 3 per cent, which is called the Hindu rate of growth. When we came back to power in 2012, we said we would ensure that tourist arrivals would cross 6 million per year”.
Parrikar said the annual tourist arrivals had reached 5.5 million last year and before the State government completes its term in 2017, the annual tourist arrival will cross 6 million mark.
Meanwhile, Panjim Residency got a total make-over as the state government has spent Rs 2 crore on it. It is now a centrally air-conditioned complex and also has a multi-cusine restaurant called “Saib” within its premises.
Chief Minister, Laxmikant Parsekar, who was also present on the occasion, said, “Panjim Residency has finally got a new facelift which is now equivalent to a star category above 3 and can offer good and modern facilities for tourists visiting Goa”.
Other dignitaries including Dilip Parulekar (tourism minister), Nilesh Cabral (chairman GTDC), Nikhil Desai (managing director GTDC), Surendra Furtado (mayor, CCP) were also present on the occasion.
