PANJIM: Ignoring all criticism surrounding its foreign trips, Tourism Department is set to participate in road shows in 10 international destinations.
The events are planned between April 30 and July 3 wherein delegations, some of which might be led by Tourism Minister Manohar Azgaonkar will ‘explore new markets’. Interestingly, participation at these places is annual but the outcome in terms of attracting tourists to Goa is disappointing.
The road shows have already begun with a trip to Amsterdam and Hungary from April 30 to May 2 followed by a visit to Czech Republic and Romania, and Bulgaria and Croatia both from May 28 to May 30 while the remaining two trips are scheduled at Los Angeles and San Francisco from June 4-6 and Qatar and Oman from July 1-3.
While the department claims that these road shows are to explore new markets and further strengthen their promotional campaign, this has drawn the ire of the stakeholders who argue that tourism officials are wasting taxpayers’ money.
Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), which has been invited by the department to participate at the road shows, has indicated that it may disassociate from these trips. TTAG president Savio Messias said Board members will on Thursday take a final call regarding future participation at road shows.
“If we are not getting any collaboration and support from the department, then we feel it is no point participating in the road shows. We will nonetheless take a final decision on future participation for the road shows on Thursday,” he told Herald.
TTAG, which has been demanding proper planning of the international promotional events, has even declared that if it would attend tourism-related events, it would be at its own cost. “We are in favour of marketing Goa abroad and we are not asking for free tickets. All we want is that we should be involved in the buildup of these travel-trade marts and road shows. If we get the cooperation, kept in the loop and planning is held before the events, we would participate, else it’s a No from us. Even if we plan to participate, for the sake of promoting Goa Tourism in a positive way, we will go at our own cost,” Messias said.
The biggest stakeholder of the tourism industry has slammed tapping of wrong destinations for promoting the State tourism. “The tourism delegation attends the travel events in the US but how many tourists do we get from that country? If we are selling beaches, the Americans have nearby beaches in South America and other adjoining countries. Similar is the case with Australia, Spain and Germany,” said another trade operator. So also, the tapping of Arab countries has not fetched results in favour of Goa Tourism.
The department has already faced flak for allowing non-Goans to man the Goa Tourism stall at Dubai’s Arabian Travel Mart who further spoilt Goa’s image by projecting the State as a destination of cheap liquor and casinos.
