Team Herald
PANJIM: Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte felt the need to go back to the tourism master plan and policy inorder to further improve the tourism sector in the State.
Speaking on the newly categorised ‘nuisance’ activities and the way ahead for enforcement of the prohibitory provisions, Khaunte mulled of passing a full-fledged Tourism Act in the next Assembly session.
The minister said that the department is already working with the KPMG to go back to the tourism master plan. “We have activated the Goa Tourism Board and people from the industry and government. Experts from the industry have been brought on board,” he explained.
“Tourism and its challenges have changed post Covid-19 pandemic. We need to go back to the master plan and policy and see what changes we have to make to give a further boost to tourism,” Khaunte added.
“It is time to now look beyond Russia and UK markets and attempt to get tourists from countries like Poland, Czechoslovakia, South Korea, US and Japan. After 20 years, for the first time, we (Tourism Department) have not gone for the World Travel Mart (WTM) in London, IITM in Paris. We had only gone to Singapore as it was a new market to explore,” he said.
“We are seriously looking at opening new markets as the challenges that Goa faces today. We will have to place equal emphasis on domestic and international markets,” he added.
“After commissioning of the Mopa airport, many new tier-2 cities will open up as tourism markets for Goa. We will have to promote our tourism there too,” he said.
While speaking on the ongoing opposition to the policies being brought by the Tourism Department, Khaunte said that it is the “flavour of the season”.
Khaunte said that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will chair a meeting of the Goa Tourism Board soon. Regarding the enforcement of the newly imposed prohibitions, the minister informed that he has asked the Chief Minister to convene a joint meeting of the Excise Department and Goa Police for execution of the prohibitions. “The Tourism Security Force and police are not enough. We need more staff to weed out illegalities,” he said.
