Team Herald

PANJIM: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday announced that the new State Tourism Policy, which will help the government push for systematic development of the sector, will be implemented from the next tourism season onwards, which begins in October. 

Admitting that the ongoing tourism season has witnessed a slowdown in the number of tourist arrivals, Sawant also said that with policy in place, Goa will look for new international destinations to attract tourists in the coastal State. 

Speaking during the launch of India’s first in-car magazine “Travel Miles”, the Chief Minister said that at present, the State has to finalise the tourism policy for the coming season. "The policy document has been submitted to me for finalisation. We will take all the stakeholders into confidence, before finalising it," he said. 

Sawant added that the stakeholders are the one, who are closely associated with the industry and hence, without their inputs and suggestions, it is not possible to finalise the policy, which is aimed towards the growth of the sector. 

"The policy will be implemented from the coming season," he said, while adding that after the closure of the mining industry, tourism has been the major source of revenue generation for the State. 

The Chief Minister said that in order to give a push and boost to the sector, it is important that all the stakeholders work in sync. 

It may be recalled that last month, a State Committee headed by Chief Secretary Parimal Rai had approved the draft tourism policy and submitted it to the government for approval. 

Work on the policy document had started way back in 2014, through the consultant KPMG Advisory Services Pvt Ltd.

The policy, that recommends the formation of a tourism board, will focus on infrastructure, development, marketing and tourism promotion initiatives.