TEAM HERALD
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PANJIM: The Master Plan Evaluation Committee has urged the tourism ministry to have a workable Tourism Master Plan for Goa, which will focus on attracting high quality tourists for longer stays, who will make repeat visits and simultaneously maintain Goa’s identity. It also urged the ministry to ensure that the Plan is made responsive to the needs and aspirations of the people.
The Committee which met for the first time Friday urged that tourism should not revolve around quantity but on high yielding tourists. The seven member committee impressed on the need for a well defined Master Plan unlike those prepared in the past at huge cost which were eventually shelved and continue to gather dust.
The exercise which has begun once again to formulate a new Tourism Master Plan for Goa, it reiterated, should focus on infrastructure development and new projects as Goa fails to provide anything more than beach tourism even though it has a rich heritage, hinterland adventure and vibrant culture.
A senior member on the committee said, “It is important that whatever plan is prepared involves the people of Goa, so that they can derive benefits from a well conceptualised plan giving thrust to rural tourism and in turn promotes other industries such as horticulture, agriculture, dairy farming, local adventure and activities.”
The committee also stressed on the need for a Plan that will benefit Goa over a period of 50 years.
A suggestion was also made to accept a proposal from Israel on rural tourism which would develop a village and create a set up that would provide local flavour to tourism such as trekking, spice farming, boating and so on.
Members suggested that the consultant who is selected to draft the Tourism Master Plan for Goa should be made responsible to execute it within a time frame.
Earlier, Tourism Director, Nikhil Desai made a presentation on the tender document whose scope has been enhanced.
“It is being fine tuned so that there are implementable modules with time frames,” said an official in the tourism department.
The consultant selected through the bidding process will have to prepare modules with review status of the Plan and engage in consultative processes with various stakeholders.
According to officials, the consultant would be selected by the first week of May and the Master Plan would be tentatively drafted within eight to 10 months.
Some of the names that have already participated in the bidding process include PricewaterhouseCoopers Consultants, KPMG, SREI, DaraShaw, aXYKno, IL&FS, CRISIL.
