TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Goa Tourism has added yet another feather in its cap by winning the Outlook Traveller, Best Tourism State of the year Award for 2012.
The award was received on behalf of the Tourism Department, by Valsala Vijayan, Dy Resident Commissioner, Goa Sadan, at the hands of Tariq Anwar, Member of Parliament, in the presence of Vinod Mehta, Editor, Outlook Magazine, at a glittering function held in New Delhi recently.
Goa Tourism had won the CNBC Awaaz Tourism Award and CondeNast Best Leisure destination award recently. It has achieved a hat-trick of sorts by winning this 3rd prestigious award in a row.
Dilip Parulekar, the Tourism Minister, said the awards are in recognition of positive steps taken by the state government in professionalizing and regulating the tourism industry in the state. He further mentioned that the state had accorded its topmost priority to tourism development and the department is in the process of appointing a world-class consultant for formulating a tourism policy and tourism master-plan.
He added that recent initiatives undertaken by the department in diversifying into eco-tourism, regulation of shacks, beaches, water-sports, hinterland tourism and festival tourism were paying rich dividends and the state was winning several awards.
