MARGAO
The Small and Medium Hoteliers Association has urged the government to formulate a home-stay policy on the lines of Kerala, even as the association has come out strongly against the D category classification of gated complexes/rent back units.
Addressing the media, Association president Serafino Cota asserted that classifying gated complexes and rent back units as D category would be unfair to the small guest houses which also come under the same category, saying this would be an undue advantage at the expense of the small Goan guest houses.
The Association has further lodged its protest with the government on what it termed as arbitrary classification of guest houses having more than six rooms, from D category to C category. “This criteria is irrational. The criteria should be based on the facilities provided in the rooms rather than the number of rooms,” he asserted.
Urging the government to formulate a home-stay policy similar to Kerala, Serafino suggested that any resident of Goa staying in his/her own house and willing to set apart minimum one room (2 beds) and maximum of four rooms (8 beds) for accommodating tourists can submit an application to the Director Tourism for starting a home-stay.
“As the name indicates, home stays are a stay in a home with a family, where the tourists will get opportunity to mingle with the people, their culture, lifestyle, etc,” he added.
On government’s decision to permit multi-residential complexes to operate as hotels/guest houses, Serafino said, “These furnished apartments or holiday homes are managed and advertised en masse either as rent backs by locally based agents or directly by the owners through private websites and networks abroad or elsewhere within India.”
“This has resulted in the decline in occupancy rates in existing, registered small, medium guest houses which threatens local livelihoods and the local economy,” he said, adding that this concept has also denied huge revenue to the government in terms of GST and licensing fees from property owners and their agents in gated communities.
He said the Tourism Secretary Ashok Kumar, IAS, has promised to include one member of the small, medium and guest house entrepreneurs on the audit committee to work in close coordination with the Tourism Department to crackdown on the illegalities.
