29 Nov 2020  |   05:14am IST

Stuck in red-tapism: Goa’s Tourism Policy leaves unaddressed problems unsolved

While other States and tourist destinations across the world have evolved and are developing at great pace, there is no brisk movement in Goa as far as taking the State’s tourism to the next level. The fact that it has taken decades for the Tourism Policy to finally come out is an indication of the sorry state of affairs. But even this has come with its share of problems, at a time when it was supposed to have been the platform upon which, Goa would rise and address the myriad challenges it presently faces and will have to deal with in the future. With the tourism stakeholders, the lifeline of the industry sidelined, the policy, like the Goa Tourism Board for instance, has instead turned out to be an opportunity for Cabinet Ministers to appease politicians. VIBHA VERMA speaks to key industry associations who share their concerns about the much-hyped Tourism Policy 2020 and how it has simply flattered to deceive, instead of meeting their long-standing expectations

VIBHA VERMA

A “government driven” Tourism Policy 2020 that largely kept the industry experts at a distance has left all the stakeholders unimpressed. Rather, they all appear to be quite upset with this development as the policy was meant to be so much more but turned out to be a damp squib.  

The 25-year vision document lately became a reality after over two months of failed deliberations. While the stakeholders expected a better overall representation, particularly on the Goa Tourism Board (GTB) which would decide policies; the government chose to follow the bureaucracy path. 

The Policy was released last month and notified earlier this month, amidst silent resentment from the traders, who have since then been seeking appointments to meet the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar. 

“Our concern is that the policy should be industry-driven, not bureaucracy driven. We already have so many government departments. In the Tourism Department, we have the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) in which the State Level Marketing Committee and Committee for infrastructure development is also included. GTB should not be one such department,” said Nilesh Shah, the President of Goa’s largest umbrella organization of tourism and tour operators - Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG).  

He strongly opines that the agenda should be driven by the industry and not by the government, which will also see regular meetings with industry experts. With the GTB majorly consisting of political appointees and bureaucrats, Shah apprehends that the implementation of policy decisions could be stuck in red-tapism. 

“GTB should have the ultimate power on issues to be addressed…Our main worry is that even if things are there in the Policy, it should not remain on paper. Implementation will happen only if experts are a part of the Board. What we are looking at are professionals, not someone with political influence. Any expertise, be it a Goan or Goan resident having tourism background, can be included,” he further suggested. 

The stakeholders claimed they have a better hold on reality considering that they have been directly dealing with visitors from different parts of the country and across the world. 

Manoj Caculo, President of the Goa Chamber of Commerce & Industries (GCCI) has backed the TTAG's view stating they are “little surprised” over the hurried release of the policy. “We welcome the Tourism Policy in principle, which has been released after two decades of delay but are little surprised that the stakeholder's request for joint discussions to do fine tuning was not entertained and the policy was released in a hurry.

Also some major decisions were taken just a day before notifying the policy to float a tender for appointing a PR agency for promotion and assistance at trade fairs. This smacked of a lack of trust in the proposed Tourism Board,” he said.

Caculo too expressed his concerns on the composition of the proposed Tourism Board suggesting it should have been a more balanced representation of stakeholders and some professionals/ experts from diverse tourism fields.

Shah went on to add that GTB’s CEO should in fact be an industry expert, whose voice is heard on issues pertaining to enhancing tourism in the State.  He also opined that “Environment Tourism, Hinterland Tourism” should have support from the locals. 

The tourism stakeholders, had in recent years, insisted on the government need for a Board. After its release, the TTAG President, GCCI President along with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Goa Chairman Blaise Costabir urged the government to allow them the time till November 30, 2020 to collate their inputs and suggestions; ensure that the GTB is not implemented till their inputs are submitted and to ensure that the Board is not formulated until the proposed inputs are taken up for joint discussions. However an appointment is still awaited.  

Costabir has also been of the strong opinion that GTB should not be set up to satisfy politicians’ needs. “It is supposed to do something for Goa’s tourism. The way they (government) have gone about it, appointing a consultant…. What is the point of appointing consultants? It was done in a hurry without consulting the stakeholders. They should approach those involved in the business,” he added. 

The expert also emphasized that revenue earned by the government is through the tourism traders. “When the stakeholders do business, the government gets revenue. When tourism booms is also when the government earns revenue. So it is very important that you take correct steps to boost tourism,” Costabir said. 

The Centre for Responsible Tourism (CRT) has also joined the other stakeholders to point lacunas in the way tourism is being handled by the government. The organization has charged that Tourism Policy 2020 conceals more than it reveals while it is also an attempt of the state government only to constitute another instrument, Goa Tourism Board (GTB) and diversion of taxpayers' money to it through the Goa Tourism Development Fund. 

“It is also an attempt by the state government to corporatise and privatise public resources.  Furthermore the policy makes the GTB eligible to receive grant-in-aid, source funds from any State and Central Government Schemes thus depriving the stakeholders/citizens who are entitled to these schemes,” Fr Freddy Braganza of the CRT said. 

The members on board CRT have further said that the Policy allows the GTB to make domestic and external borrowings. “Regular borrowing has become a policy of the government and borrowings of the GTB will further add to the per capita debt burden on the citizens of Goa.  Does the State need another instrument to borrow financial resources?” it said. 

In the absence of a comprehensive development program for people, very serious issues of environmental degradation, violation of Coastal Regulation Zones (CZR), cultural decay, sex tourism, easy availability of narcotics, child labour, child and women trafficking, alienation of communities from their lands have not been addressed.  In a detailed suggestion, the organisation also said that the vision needs to envisage a just and equitable tourism with ‘people’ as the focus.

While further pointing out to various loopholes across various tourism sectors in the already notified Policy, CRT has urged the government to consider proposals and suggestions of the stakeholders and incorporate them in the Policy 2020.