PANJIM: Francisco de Braganca was installed for a second term as the President of the TTAG last evening along with the committee all of whom who were elected unopposed. He thanked the government for the support and for being responsive to the problems faced by the industry.
He said the combination of a supportive government along with the Union Minister of state for Tourism Shripad Naik was a lethal combination. This he said was also an opportunity to take up all the pending issues which had remained unresolved for lack of central support. He said “Our Union Minister has been apprised of the various issues facing us and has assured us that he will take them up one by one”.
Goa he said had received special treatment in the railway budget and the union budget. A convention centre, a fast train a cruise terminal besides the visa on arrival would benefit the state tremendously.
The PM he said had talked about the importance of cleanliness and speaking to the Herald he said “Forget everything else if Goa sorts this one issue we will get everyone wanting to visit the state” this he said would require us to accept garbage treatment plants in our neighborhood, adopt mechanised beach cleaning and discipline the domestic tourist.
He said “We should them for littering or drinking in public places. In Singapore fines go up to $500 and I would like the government to adopt a similar regime and enforce a firm hand”.
Tourism he warned was a fragile industry and any small incident could affect it. It was important to keep Goa incident free, safe and tourist friendly. The unique blend of east and west had resulted in a boom but recently the growth of international tourists were not keeping pace with domestic tourism resulting in the state losing its charm and unique identity.
He said “We need to keep the balance between the various markets and protect our identity as a international tourist destination”. The TTAG he said would be setting up a Research and Data wing at its new office in collaboration with the Goa Institute of Management to study trends and help in the marketing effort.
With regards to the Goa Investment policy he said it did not make any mention of the tourism master plan. The selection of the tourism master plan had been completed 9 months back but work had not commenced. It had to be taken up on a priority basis since it was the basis for generating investment in the field of tourism.
This was not possible without finalizing the regional plan which would then allow tourism infra structure in the public and private sector to be developed. The investment plan he said did not make any reference to the finalization of the regional plan.
Also present at the function was the Union Minsiter of Tourism Shripad Naik who felt the announcement of a convention centre during the union budget was something Goa could be proud of and he also urged the industry to take up all issues so that they could be sorted out. Dilip Parulekar the Goa tourism minister was also present.
