VIBHA VERMA
PANJIM: For the first time after attending the past international trade fairs in Berlin and winning accolades in different categories, Goa Tourism has not been invited for the annual world’s leading travel trade show that began on Monday.
Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar said the State did not get an invite to participate at the ITB Berlin 2017.
“We were not invited,” he told Herald in a brief telephonic chat from Delhi. The tourism department and its stakeholder have confirmed that except for some leading travel agencies, no government official has travelled to attend the festival in Berlin.
While this is minister’s official statement to Herald, as per the records, Goa Tourism was already allotted 60 sq mtrs of space to set up its stall at the exhibition venue!
The development comes as a surprise to all considering that it had won back-to-back awards in the recent past. After winning the prestigious Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA) award in the ‘Best Beach Destination’ category, it maintained its winning streak when it bagged the PATWA award for ‘Best Destination in Relaxation, Water sports and Entertainment’ and ‘Best Wedding and Honeymoon Destination’ in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
On the other hand, sources said that there was no financial sanction to participate at the event as a result of which the State backed out. The ongoing code of conduct could also be reason.
Going back to November 2016 while announcing the implementation of Seventh Pay Commission, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar had come up with economic measures for the next five years that included curbing foreign trips that yield no fruitful results.
The State has often come under the scanner for spending crores of rupees on foreign junkets. The former Travel and Tourism Association of
Goa President Francisco Da Braganca, in his pre-2016 budget memorandum to the government had opined that there was no need for budgetary expenditure on tourism marketing at the cost of additional taxation on the hospitality industry.
“It has been a wasteful expenditure with no tangible benefits or increase in foreign tourist arrivals. There is a need to rationalise the marketing expenditure and see that it is result oriented,” reads a portion of the memorandum.
