PANJIM: The Congress has blamed the poor tourist turnout during the peak tourism season on heavy taxes imposed on the tourism industry, making Goa an expensive destination. It argued that this, along with bad infrastructure, was the main reason for the poor tourist inflow. It also castigated Minister for Tourism, Dilip Parulekar for not putting in place any tourism master plan, though he is tourism minister for almost three years now and was only relying on Electronic Dance Music (EDM) festival to boost footfalls in the State.
“The tourism industry is heavily taxed. This makes Goa a very expensive proposition compared to other tourist States. The amounts will be less than what they spend on junkets and the business is less. We demand that the State government waive taxes for them,” Congress spokesman Agnelo Fernandes told media in the presence of Congress spokesman Sunil Kawtankar. He also criticized the BJP Christian MLAs for not taking any position on the conversion issue raging all over the country.
The State government does not have any tourism policy. The high cost is telling on the tourism sector, the main business from which revenue flows into State, said Kawathankar adding that the lack of proper infrastructure in the coastal belt was worsening the situation.
“People don’t want to come here because there is no proper infrastructure. Pot-holed roads welcome the tourists, especially in Calangute,” he said.
“The beaches are empty. You don’t see many tourists coming there. The Russian tourists have not come,” Fernandes, the former Calangute MLA said, adding that those tourists who want to come to Goa have cancelled their plans and have gone to
other destinations.
