TEAM HERALD
PANJIM :Almost thirteen and a half crores and counting. That’s the amount the government of Goa has spent on the tourism minister, power minister, GTDC chairman and other BJP MLA’s for their globe hop in two years. That is almost Rs 50 lakhs a month for promoting Goa.
The junkets spanned 16 countries across three continents. According to information tabled on the floor of the house, by Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar in response to a starred question by Curtorim MLA, Alexio Reginaldo Lourenco the Tourism Department, has spent Rs 13.24 (13,24,19,005) crores on 26 trade fairs and road shows across the world from March 2012 till March 2014.
In 2012, the government spent 4.15 crores (4,15,93, 409) on nine road shows and trade fairs.
In 2013, 7.57 crore (7,57,26,362) was spent on 13 trade fairs and road shows.
In 2014 it participated into two trade fairs in the month of March where it spent Rs 1.5 crore (1,50,99,237).
That’s a huge amount of money considering that not even one percent of this seems to have been recovered due to tourist footfalls from those countries.
Of the total of 26 trade fairs and road shows (total 161 days), Parulekar participated in six fairs, Power Minister Milind Naik participated in two fairs and Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) Chairman Nilesh Cabral attended three trade fairs.
Apart from this, Industries Minister Mahadev Naik, Deputy Speaker Anant Shet, legislators Subhash Phaldesai, Ganesh Gaonkar and BJP spokesperson Dr Wilfred Mesquita participated in one trade fair and road show each. Director Tourism Nikhil Dessai participated in 10 fairs along with Deputy Director Pamela Mascarenhas. Each visit was of not less than five days.
The minister, while seeking postponement of the question, to allow him time to reply said that more details are required to be added to the list. The question would be now answered on August 5.
The minister and his cabinet colleagues and legislators visited Germany, U.K. Austria, Denmark, Amsterdam, Sweden, Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Turkey and Russia in Europe, Katmandu, Singapore and Dubai in Asia, Australia and New Zealand in Australasia.
The various road shows and trade fairs include Indian crafts festival, ITB, WTM, TUR, Indian trade fair, IFTM, MITT and Arabian Travel Mart exhibition.
In yet another reply to Valpoi MLA Vishwajit Rane, the Tourism Department has said that due to aggressive marketing efforts, the number of tourists registered an increase of 12.5 percent in 2013 compared to 2012 and for the year 2014, government is looking for an increase of upto 16 per cent in the arrival of tourists from those received in 2013.
