Team Herald
PANJIM: After beaches and hinterland tourism, the Tourism Department intends to focus on promoting villages in a bid to garner maximum flow of international and domestic visitors to explore traditional Goan houses.
The draft tourism master plan (module IV), under Culture and Heritage Tourism, speaks about identifying such villages which will also be given special labels and accreditations based on its specific attraction to help tourists explore these.
“To encourage tourist visits to our villages, especially to explore traditional Goan houses the Goa Tourism Board (GTB) would designate villages conducive for development as “tourism villages”. Minimum standards applicable to designation of “Tourism Villages” would be specified, to encourage villages to vie for the same. In addition, special labels and accreditations for designated Tourism Villages, such as old Goan houses, handicrafts and Goan cuisine would be specified to help tourists explore the village based on their inherent character and variety of attractions or experiences on offer,” the draft, which is kept open for public views and suggestions, states.
In order to widely promote Goan handicrafts, the draft also stresses on setting standards to enhance cultural tourism offerings through handicrafts. The 21-page draft module IV has also proposed offering quality experiences in protected areas to augment visitors in addition to overnight stays within the laws.
“Ecologically sustainable and environmentally sound practices would be adopted in tourism development for Nature based tourism. (The nature based tourism will) facilitate development of quality facilities and experiences in protected areas to increase the number of visitors and potentially overnight stays within the framework outlined, through applicable laws and regulations,” it further mentions.
To ensure safety and providing basic facilities in the vicinity, the members of the draft master plan have also emphasised at facilitating development of infrastructure, information and other services including signage and road access, parking, information centre, toilets, wireless internet connectivity, permanent electricity, water, sewage and telecommunications in tourist frequented areas in the vicinity.
“To identify nature clusters comprising key natural or cultural assets located in the vicinity of each other across the Goan hinterland for development. Facilitate development of river cruises in small vessels across Goa’s inland waterways subject to navigability constraints. Emphasis would be on eco conscious operations for boats, using small ports/jetties at strategic locations along the demarcated river circuits for hinterland exploration. This would be governed by mandatory service, safety and quality standards for vessels,” the draft proposes inviting discussion from various stakeholders and individuals.
Even as various accommodation facilities are currently operational at around some famous protected areas, the module IV states that tourism accommodation and activities based on the premise of eco-tourism would be designated and defined, with specialized quality labels and certification schemes.
