A few taps on one’s phone and one can instantly book travel tickets, hotel stays, restaurant bookings and many other services. India has embraced technology at a fanatic pace that augurs well for the Indian economy. Technology has given people great options at affordable prices and has forced businessmen to maintain transparency while marketing their goods or services.
Whether its sleazy tourism, or rogue travel services, they all use the Internet and mobile phones to do business and operate on a model that has been accepted by a large number of people, mostly from outside Goa. The government has no techno surveillance to pre-empt such activities, however, the Goa police has done a reasonable job to nab some fraudsters.
Using technology to promote tourism has a very huge potential in Goa that could create a generation of new entrepreneurs, and also help increase the income of those who are already directly or indirectly involved in the Tourism business. If there has to be a citizen-government partnership for the promotion of tourism, every village or a cluster of villages will have to rediscover its tourism potential, maintaining cleaner villages, increasing the number of homestays (villas/cottages), and most importantly having an environment friendly sustainable model that will work for Goa and its people.
Many places in India have beautiful beaches, but not many have the warmth of a Goan host. There is a large international and domestic market to be tapped, for professionally managed homestays. Tourists who opt to stay in a serviced villa/cottage/apartment normally stay for a longer period of time and prefer holiday destinations that help them travel at ease and at reasonable prices. The government needs to have an inventory of closed homes (which is huge) and have a policy that will encourage the owners to lease their homes to entrepreneurs who will manage and rent them. The concept of “COME HOME TO HOLIDAY” in Goa would not be difficult to market, as GOA as a brand is well known around the world, so much so that some have used and abused it without any benefit percolating to the state.
Goa is a small state but a beautiful state and there is no reason why technology cannot help bridge the gap between the coast and the hinterland and give every entrepreneur the confidence that the government will act as a catalyst to promote their interests, and intervene when things go wrong. Technology will drastically bring down the marketing and operational costs of most tourism activities, and the incentives gained can be shared by all.
A premium service will always have a premium price, but it is unfair to pay a premium price for an ordinary service. The government needs to have an inclusive tourism policy that will boost initiatives by tech savvy entrepreneurs, who will be instrumental to find local solutions to local problems and provide holiday services and information on an instant platform. Technology has already invaded our lives; it depends on the entrepreneurs and the government to make the best use of it for the benefit of all.
