Team Herald
PANJIM: The Small and Medium Hoteliers Association (SMHA) members met Tourism Director Suneel Anchipaka on Wednesday to discuss how they can fight the negative image of Goa created by social media influencers.
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Speaking to reporters after meeting the Director, Dixon Vaz, Vice President, SMHA , said, “It is not that we are always doing a good job. Some things are wrong but finally it is we Goans who are affected.”
He accepted that some hotels overcharge their guests and said that the association members discussed the issue with
the Director.
He said the association members told the Director that a negative image is being built about Goa and there is a need to rebuild the image.
“Tourism is a continuous business. Sometimes it may boom and sometimes it may go wrong. We also admit that certain things are wrong during the last few months and that has brought a bad name. We had good dialogue with the director and we discussed how we can help,” he said.
SMHA President Santosh Divkar said,” The social media works on algorithms and the influencers have got just one topic and they are talking about only that. We were the first one to tell that Goa is lacking with the tourist inflow. We are working with the government. We, the guest house owners, are the first point of contact with
the tourists.”
” It is said that Goa is costly but it is forgotten that the state has variety to offer. It is not that only taxis are the mode of transport. You have to realise that air fare from Delhi to Goa was about Rs 15,000 while from Delhi to Vietnam or Bangkok is around Rs 18,000,” he said.
“We are also working with the Ministry of External Affairs on the issue of providing Visas to tourists coming to Goa. The Visas are not granted on time and tourists do not want to wait for a long time,” he said.
