Team Herald
PANJIM: Savio Messias, re-elected as president of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), said he hoped the much-delayed Tourism Master Plan would be finalised in his second term. He said he had received much assistance from the CM but till date had not been able to meet the Tourism Minister in the two years of his first term.
Messias will be assisted by Guitry Velho – VP South, Nilesh Shah – VP North, Jack Sukhija – secretary, while members of the committee include Ernest Dias, Francisco Braganza, Atish Fernandes, Aakash Madgaunkar, Sairaj Dhond and Sunder Advani.
Messias said TTAG had worked on a charter policy for the country which has been accepted by the government and would be handed over to the Parliamentary committee for their comments and approval.
For weddings, which was growing to be a major portion of the MICE market, a single window proposal has been submitted and TTAG expected a sympathetic Chief Secretary to take a decision soon. With regard to copyright companies harassing hoteliers, TTAG with the help of the DGP ruled that copyright companies cannot be law enforcement and investigating agencies and that jurisdiction was the exclusive domain of the police or the court.
Law Minister Francis D’Souza said there was a lot more to be done because Goa was not on par with the world. It had to go beyond beaches and offer more. A lot of international tourists could not stay long because there was not much to offer beyond beaches and TTAG would have to think about it very intently. One should consider it an achievement if the international tourist stays here for 7 to 10 days and has something new to do every day.
Tourism Secretary SheoPratap Singh said there were several bodies working on events but they seemed to be working in isolation which was not a good thing.
