One of the first decisions that the new Tourism Minister, Manohar (Babu) Azgaonkar, has taken is to revive the defunct Tourism Squads so as to crackdown on illegal activities along the coast, that includes the ‘harassment’ of tourists by lamanis, hawkers, beggars and touts. The squads that the Tourism Minister intends to revive will have the additional responsibility of keeping tabs on criminal activities like drug peddling and prostitution.
While this may help clean up the beaches of undesirable activity, this was not on the priority list of the industry when the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa delegation had met the new minister just days after he took over, and offered to work together with the government to boost tourism in the State. It may have been on the agenda, but the industry felt that there are some more pressing issues in the tourism sector that need to be dealt with.
What TTAG had elucidated at that meeting was taking up issues that needed to be resolved and these were better management of shacks and beach beds, setting up of a Tourism Board and creating a Master Plan, and better usage of central funds. This takes a broader view of tourism and policy making that will take the industry to a higher level. None of the issues that had been brought up by the industry figured in this meeting that the Tourism Minister had with the department and police officials.
The priority has to be looking at the season ahead, that will begin in October and ways to boost the industry after the dip it took due to demonetisation and shifting of two mega electronic dance music festivals to Pune, and fears of a drop in charter flights and hence foreign tourists. Even if it is argued that there are a few months to go before the next season starts, and there’s time to work out a plan for the next season, there is the pressing issue of taxis and their charges that remains unsolved, and which TTAG has even gone to the High Court with. Solving the taxi issue will be far more complicated and take more time that clamping down on beggars and hawkers, but they are issues that need to be dealt with and the earlier a start is made, the quicker will there be a solution.
Macro planning of tourism needs to be combined with micro planning. If the revival of Tourism Squads is an example of micro managing, than we also need to see examples of policy making that would come in the realm of macro planning. And, tourism’s macro planning needs to take into account the role that other government departments play.
Take for instance the proposals made by the Chief Minister while presenting the Budget last month of re-launching some of the stalled tourism projects, including the double decker bus service. This service is stalled despite the buses already being in Goa as they are yet to get permission from the Transport Department. The Transport Department argues there are no rules under which it can permit these buses. The delay in the double decker bus service is an indication of how the departments work, where projects are proposed without having a clear picture of all the procedures and permissions required to take them forward.
In the Budget speech, the Chief Minister also proposed constructing a mini helipad at the existing helipad at Dhauji in Old Goa, a modern facility for the tourists which will include a tourist arrival center, mini boat cruise terminal and other facilities at Santa Monica Jetty at Patto, besides heritage boat cruise facilities to promote hinterland and heritage tourism in River Mandovi. Hopefully all these can be taken forward at the earliest, even as the department and professionals sit down to work out the master plan.
