PANAJI
The newly formed Goa Tourism Board needs a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who can rake in profit of Rs 500 crore for a Rs 200 crore investment on infrastructure, state Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar said on Thursday, after the first meeting of the Board which is co-chaired by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and the Tourism Minister himself.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting of the Board, Ajgaonkar also said that he had suggested that a senior government official should be brought to the Tourism Ministry on deputation and appointed as the CEO of the Board, which is tasked with promotion of tourism in the coastal State.
"We need a good CEO to promote Goa tourism. We need a CEO who can generate the most income... If we spend Rs 200 crore on infrastructure (the CEO) will have to see how to recover Rs 500 crore from it," Ajgaonkar said, adding that the Board is in the process of finalising a candidate for the post.
"We need a CEO who is an expert. We could take a government officer too who could be taken on deputation. This is my proposal," the Tourism Minister also said, adding that incumbent Director of Tourism Menino D'Souza had taken charge of the position in the interim.
"For the last several years, people were expecting the Board to be set up. The opposition was chastising us over the setting up of the Board. Now, the Tourism Board will take the decisions for promotion of tourism in Goa. We want to promote tourism without posing risk to environment," Ajgaonkar also said, adding that the Board would now promote tourism in Goa using the state tourism policy and the masterplan as the guiding documents.
"We want to take the tourists from the beaches to the hinterland and the Board will follow this direction. It will look to promote eco-tourism, hinterland tourism, adventure tourism etc. There is no point getting the beaches crowded alone," Ajgaonkar said.
"We have taken people who believe in a balance between tourism and environment, from the tourism industry, on the Board," he also said.
The newly formed 19-member Board is empowered with granting permissions to events with big footfalls and administration of the Goa Tourism Development Fund to fund projects mentioned in the State tourism master-plan.
