Reduce red-tapism in registration of homestays, rooms

Tourism Minister Manohar (Babu) Ajgaonkar recently announced that online hospitality companies and operators running homestays will have to mandatorily register their premises and businesses with the government, failing which they will be barred from conducting their business. Ajgaonkar also said that private homestays, apart from companies like Oyo, are eating into the tourism pie without any contribution to the government treasury in the form of taxes. Interestingly, he claimed, that the market share of the homestays and online hospitality is 35 per cent in Goa.

Now, organised private hospitality businesses need to answer why they have not registered the places which they take on long lease from the local owners? Apart from companies like Oyo, there are several locals who rent rooms to tourists to earn their livelihood and have been conducting the business for decades. Interestingly, most of them do not register simply because the registration process is too tedious. The Department of Tourism had started single-window clearances for rooms and cottages. However, the scheme is just on paper and makes the owners or locals run for approvals. The department wants a no objection certificate (NOC) from the local panchayat, an NOC from the Health Department, an NOC from the Fire and Emergency Service, and structural drawings approved by PWD engineers. For every NOC the authorities carry out an inspection, which means four inspections, and despite this the NOC isn’t granted without under-the-table dealings. To bypass these issues, the locals simply get in touch with the local panch member and begin their business.

The Minister needs to put his house in order first and make the single-window clearance effective. Officials of all four authorities – Panchayats, Fire, Health and PWD – should go at one time and inspect the place simultaneously. This will not only save the time of the operator but it will do away with red-tapism. Secondly, the minister said that the government will soon notify rules framed under the amended Goa Registration of Tourist Trade Act 1982 so as to deter bookings in unregistered hotels and rooms through online hospitality companies. The question is, what is stopping the Minister from notifying the rules. The Act was passed in the Assembly over a year ago but is still to come into force. 

The amended Act says that no person shall carry on the business of providing the service of online booking of hotel rooms, other accommodation or any other tourist related activity in tourist areas, unless he is registered in accordance with the provisions of this Act. Every person intending to start such business shall apply for registration to the prescribed authority, along with the prescribed fee and every application made shall be disposed of within a period of one month from the date of receipt of such application. If any person contravenes the provisions of sub-section (1) or (2) of section 19E, he shall be punishable by prescribed authority with fine as specified in section 22 of this Act, the amendment to the Act says. When the above amendments have already been made to the Act, why is the Minister threatening implementation? Why is the department not notifying the rules so that the unauthorised businesses are shut and the State treasury gets some revenue? 

What is even more baffling is that the minister says that the number of tourist arrivals in December 2019 have remained the same compared to December 2018. There is no doubt the numbers have fallen, if the Tourism Minister takes a stroll on any of the North Goa beaches, everyone will tell him about the shortfall in tourists, right from operators of rooms to restaurants, to taxi or a chaiwalahs. But is the Minister interested in studying the ground reality?