Team Herald
PORVORIM: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday assured the Legislative Assembly that henceforth no tourism related activities will be permitted in the State without the approval of the Tourism Department and GTDC, while other departments will have no stake in that.
Parrikar also said that the private cruise boats will be now covered under the Goa Goods and Service Tax (GST).
He was replying to a question raised by Nilesh Cabral who pointed out that many tourism-related activities are taking place in the State without approval of Tourism Department and GTDC and hence they are losing out on revenue in the form of entertainment tax. He demanded that government should work out some mechanism to curb illegal tourism activities.
He said that directions have been issued to CoP that henceforth all the renewal licences of the cruises will be forwarded to GTDC for approval. “Unless Tourism Department and GTDC approve proposals for tourism activities by other departments, no such activities will be permitted,” he said.
The Chief Minister further said that with the introduction of GST, the Luxury and Entertainment Tax stands abolished and hence the cruise boats will now be brought under purview of GST.
“The owners claim that they don’t fall under GST but as per my information, on an average per day revenue is Rs 5,000. If that is the case then they come under GST,” he stated.
As per government record, since 2012 till date, the total entertainment tax collected from these cruise vessels stands at Rs 8.64 crore.
