If I understand correctly, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant wants to (re)make Goa the tourist capital of India. I don’t know if he will succeed, I’m staying there at the moment and with regards, I will advice the State government to do some housekeeping in the companies that deal with tourism, especially with regard to foreigners.
Here is for example what happened to me. I rented via an online site (rent my bike) a motorbike for seven days. The individual asked me for my passport and international licence to check my identity. 15-km after Margao on route National Highway 66 in the direction of Canacona, the police stopped me, asked me for my licence and told me that it was illegal to drive with a white plate. Of course, being a foreigner, I didn’t know that a rented vehicle must have a yellow plate and I realise that the rental company and its official have ripped me off.
The policeman asked me to call the company official to come and get the bike. I called several times, I sent messages on the WhatsApp numbers of the company I had, no one really answered me… I waited almost three hours for someone to come. Finally, I went by motorcycle to the police station giving an ultimatum to the company. I explained my situation to the policeman in charge, he himself phoned (twice) the company and finally the official came.
I still have to recover Rs 1,000 given for the reservation. I want to say that the police didn’t ask me anything and really helped me. I will myself try to go further against this rental company but I invite the Government of Goa to take quick measures so that this kind of events which unfortunately concern a lot of tourists at the moment, do not happen again. Or at least, make a small brochure for foreigners explaining to them in which traps they should not fall. The credibility of the administration in welcoming tourists to Goa is at stake.
(The incident happened when this tourist was holidaying in Goa)
