Team Herald
PORVORIM: The opposition benches laid a scathing attack on Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar over wasteful expenditure on tourism promotion through international road shows and events while demanding that a pre-audit of all the spending be undertaken.
A whopping amount of Rs 33.68 crore was spent by the government on tourism promotions at international platforms since 2017.
The House was assured that the formation of tourism promotion board, comprising all stakeholders, will be formed in the near future to decide on all events and promotional activities of the department.
The Goa Legislative Assembly on Friday also deliberated whether 45 lakh tourists visited the coastal state around New Year amid the COVID-19 pandemic as claimed by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant; as the data furnished by the Tourism department claims that provisional domestic tourist arrival figure was 9,71,479 for 2020 along with 7,935 foreign tourists.
Former Deputy Chief Minister and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai during the Question Hour cornered the Tourism Minister over his Ministry’s failure to conduct pre-audit of the expenditure considering that a whopping amount of Rs 33 crore was spent on international promotional events like road shows.
Sardesai further claimed that the event management agencies were paid its fees despite the fact that events, scheduled in the countries like Moscow, Germany and Portugal, were cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic enforced lockdown. He further said that despite cancellation of the events, the agencies are yet to refund the amount to the government which is over Rs 1.5 crore.
Participating in the discussion, NCP MLA Churchill Alemao too questioned the need for holding promotional events, when Goa is already known as a Tourism Hub at the international level. “We don’t need to do any promotion. Why to simply spend money. Goa is a tourism hub and people across the world prefer the State for vacation,” he said.
Ajgaonkar, while responding to the charges, said Goa should have instead spent Rs 200 crore on tourism promotion in order to attract quality travellers to the coastal state. “Rs 33 crore is a very small amount. We should have spent Rs 200 crore. I believe, the more you spend, the double you earn,” he said.
The Minister said that with the closure of iron ore mining activity, tourism is the only backbone of the State economy and nearly 40%of the State’s population depend on the industry for their survival.
Ajgoankar said that during 2019-20, nearly 1.5 crore tourists visited the State, while during the new Year 2020 nearly 9.71 lakh domestic and 7,935 foreign tourists arrived in the State.
This was strongly debated by Sardesai pointing out that the CM had earlier said that 40 lakh-45 lakh tourists had visited Goa during the festive year-end season.
“The CM said 40 to 45 lakh tourists visited Goa during December and the New Year. It does not tally with the written reply of the Tourism Minister. And during the pandemic, air travel was shut down, where did you get international tourists from?” he questioned, while adding, “God seems to be sending tourists to Goa.”
As Ajgoankar failed to control the situation, the CM stepped in and said that a change in the trend of tourist arrivals was noticed during the pandemic as most travellers drove down to Goa and chose to stay in unregistered hotels and guest houses. This made it difficult for the government agencies to calculate a correct estimation of the arrivals, added Sawant.
“Many travelled by road. Tourists were even staying in unregistered guest houses now. It is difficult to get an estimate of arrival,” Sawant said in the House. “Between December 25, 2020, to January 1, 2021, people were not able to travel abroad so they came to Goa,” he added.
As opposition, including Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat, mounted pressure to adopt austerity measures, the CM assured the House that a tourism promotion board, comprising all stakeholders, will be formed in the near future to decide on all events and promotional activities of the deptartment.
