Team Herald
PANJIM: Concerned with the declining popularity of Goa tourism particularly among the high-end tourists, the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) — the biggest umbrella group of travel and tour operators — has urged Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to focus on the tourism industry.
A delegation led by TTAG President Savio Messias met Sawant seeking his intervention into various aspects including the marketing strategy of Goa Tourism wherein foreign travel marts and road shows are on the top chart of Tourism Department. Sawant, the TTAG said, has directed the department to prepare a detailed plan.
“We explained to him the poor marketing and promotional activities, and how trips to certain countries are amounting to wasteful expenditure. The CM assured to look into the matter and directed the Tourism Department to submit to him a plan for the year which includes participation in travel marts and road shows across different countries,” Messias told Herald after the delegation’s first meeting with the CM.
The TTAG, he said, expressed to the CM that to remain competitive, more needs to be done like granting five year licence to shack operators thus doing away with annual renewal of their licence, expediting the long pending Tourism Master Plan and Tourism Policy, etc.
Messias also pointed to figures concerning hotels which revealed that bookings recorded a significant drop. To these issues, the TTAG President said that the CM has assured that all the issues would be resolved and the association would be taken on board before arriving at any decision. “He has been very cooperative and has a positive approach to upgrading Tourism,” he added.
On the issue revolving around the GoaMiles Taxi app service, the CM has extended his complete support to the service.
