This story is from December 25, 2014

Government junkets come under public scanner

As the stakes of Goa tourism rose in early 2014 with unprecedented growth in tourist inflow, both domestic and international, it seemed nothing would stopped its upward march
Government junkets come under public scanner
PANAJI: As the stakes of Goa tourism rose in early 2014 with unprecedented growth in tourist inflow, both domestic and international, it seemed nothing would stopped its upward march.
Tourism season 2013-14 ended on a positive note with Goa receiving over 30 lakh domestic tourists and close to 5 lakh foreign tourists, registering a growth of 12%, as claimed by Goa tourism.

Early indications given in April and May, signalled a drop in charter business for the 2014-15 season even as industry watchers were uncertain about the extent of loss, but, Goa tourism remained
in denial.
For a change and for the first time, Goa tourism came under huge criticism over its junkets taken-up under the guise of “selling Goa abroad”. Then chief minister Manohar Parrikar was compelled to put in policy guidelines as TOI reports exposed the Brazil tour of six of his ministers at the cost of the state exchequer. The proposed Europe tour for September, ostensibly to attract pilgrims for the ongoing Exposition of the Sacred Relics of St Francis Xavier at Old Goa, was cancelled as the government received flak for its unmindful expenditure on yet another junket.

Goa tourism also remained in focus, albeit, for a negative reason in February this year as a violent agitation by the tourist taxi operators left many tourists stranded and brought in bad publicity for Goa.
The Goa government though realized that it could not ignore the tourist taxi problem anymore, and some initiatives were taken. Tourist taxi operators claimed that the problem was not taken to its logical end.
While police are now a little more prompt in taking notice of alleged high-handedness of the tourist taxi
operators, such incidents continue to happen in South Goa.
Savio Messias, vice-president of travel and tourism association of Goa (TTAG), recounting an incident that happened at a starred hotel in South Goa last week, said that guests who had come to attend a wedding ceremony, were stopped by a group of taxi drivers who wanted them to travel in their taxis instead of taking a bus arranged by the host.
“If tourists encounter this type of a problem when they are on a holiday in Goa, you can’t blame them if they choose stay away from Goa,” he pointed out.
Probably in a decade, the month of December, supposedly a peak period of the tourist season, has seen less tourists come to Goa this time.
While the economic meltdown in Russia has affected the flow of Russian charters to Goa, a decline in domestic tourists this month has worried hoteliers, shack owners as well as tourist taxi operators. But, nobody seemed to be in a mood to ponder over why even domestic tourists have turned its back on Goa.
While tourist taxi operators blame hoteliers and Goa tourism, representatives of the hotel industry accuse the former for “spoiling holidays of the visitors” by creating a ruckus at every given opportunity if they smell a rat.
On the other hand, tourist taxi operators believe hoteliers are the chief culprits, who want to eat the cream while robbing their profits by having their own fleet of vehicles for guests.
“If they also run the taxi business, what about us? How should we survive?” asked a taxi operator trying to justify their case.
While the tourist taxi problem remains unsolved for yet another season, a decline in the tourism market has shown that Goa tourism has to change its marketing strategy to attract tourists from varied destinations,
as also work out a mechanism to make Goa more competitive in terms of its rival destinations.
On a positive note, Goa tourism has planned a couple of infrastructure development projects that are
expected to boost the tourism sector as and when they take shape.
Introduction of the visa-on-arrival facility at Dabolim airport will further enhance Goa’s chances of attracting tourists from other countries.
author
About the Author
Bindiya Chari

I'm a journalist with experience of more than a decade. I have covered politics, tourism, health and also done some off-beat stories. Apart from passion for journalism I have penchant for photography, trekking and travelling.

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