Team Herald
PANJIM: The Tourism Department issued the notification for the Goa Registration of Tourist Trade (Amendment) Rules, 2021, which will come into force from April 1. The annual renewal fees are valid for a year while the amount for the registration fee is the same.
“An application for registration by a person intending to carry out the business as a dealer, hotel keeper, travel agent or any other tourism trade under the Act, shall be submitted to the prescribed authority in Form I, II or Form III hereto, as the case may be, facilitated through e-registration at the Registration Facilitation Centres,” read an extract from the notification order.
As per the rules, the new payment structure for registration and annual renewal fees have been given for various operators of various types of business activity/categories.
The first category is for a dealer where the fee is Rs 1,000. The second is for a hotel owner wherein there are four categories based on the number of rooms the hotel has. Each category had further sub-types. The fee for the topmost category is Rs 1 lakh (above 100 rooms/sophisticated accommodation) and the fees for the lowest category is Rs 1,000 (home stay/bed and breakfast establishment).
There are similar types of categories and respective subtypes elsewhere too. The highest fee for travel agents is Rs 20,000 while rules are also provided in case tourism business operators wish to change their names too.
For beach shacks, it is divided on the basis of the number of years of experience the operator has and the access of beach they operate from.
The highest fee for a shack operator is Rs 1.25 lakh while the lowest fee for a shack is Rs 50,000.
There are similar payment fees for private shacks too where the basis of criteria is the size of the shack and if it’s an air-conditioned hut or not. The highest fee here is Rs 75,000 and the lowest is Rs 5,000.
Then there are fees for shack owners, hotel operators and unemployed youth to put a varying number of deck beds and umbrellas. Here the highest fee is Rs 10,000 and lowest is Rs 875.
There are also charges for river tourism activities. The highest fee for online travel aggregators also differ on the basis on what the aggregators are offering. For those offering travel and accommodation booking, the fee is Rs 2 lakh, while for those offering just one of the two (travel or accommodation), it is Rs 1 lakh.
The highest fee in the category titled ‘tourist boat and launches including cruise boats’ is Rs 15,000 while the lowest fee is Rs 5,000. The two fees for yacht operators are Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000. It’s Rs 5,000 for a houseboat.
The fee for tent and tent equipment dealer, camping agency and tourist guide and excursion agents are all at Rs 1,000. The fee for a porter is Rs 40. The fee for a photographer is Rs 5,000.
The fees for adventure sport operators vary from the type of adventure sport where the highest fee is for Bungee jumping at Rs 25,000. The fees for paragliding, hot air ballooning, windsurfing, dinghy sailing and any other adventure sport are all at Rs 5,000.
Finally, the fees for spice plantations vary from Rs 25,000 (with accommodation) and Rs 15,000 (without accommodation).
