PANJIM: Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar on Tuesday defended the foreign and domestic tours of his department saying they improve the tourist inflow in the State.
“These road shows/exhibitions proved to be tremendously successful and helped to showcase and promote Goa as a safe tourist destination,” he said, admitting the expenditure of Rs 42 crore on such events.
He was responding to the Opposition benches that attacked the government for incurring huge expenditure on foreign and domestic tourism jaunts, and not having audited the expenses and demanded an inquiry into them.
“The exhibitions also conveyed the impression of Goa as a safe tourist destination. These also highlighted several measures undertaken by the State for safety and security of tourists and other facilities for foreign tourists and tour operators,” the minister said, informing the House about the increase in tourist inflow since 2012 till date, which is up from 27 lakh to 40 lakh in 2014.
The 32 international marts and 72 domestic promotions by the Tourism Department have cost the exchequer Rs 42 crore. The government clarified that prior approval from the Central Government was sought for all the foreign tours and travels as required.
Opposition MLAs led by independent Vijai Sardesai pointed out that former chief minister Manohar Parrikar had made an assurance during the monsoon session of the House on August 14, 2014, that a pre-audit of all the tour expenses would be done.
“The assurance has not been adhered to and the Tourism Minister has been on a spending spree which is not fetching any results by increasing tourism footfalls in the State,” Sardesai said, even as Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar objected to this and assured that an audit after all such events would be done.
Sardesai said during the current year for the last two months, the ministry has spent Rs 8.5 crore for tourism promotions.
According to information, the Minister, MLAs from ruling coalition and tourism department officials had participated in 32 international marts and 72 domestic promotions during that period. “Of the total 32 events, ministers participated in 14 international events, but failed to attend even a single domestic event,” Sardesai pointed out.
