Goa’s new tourism policy not as visualised: TTAG

The Goa government yesterday approved the long-awaited Goa Tourism Policy 2020, with a vision to make the state the “most preferred destination around the year for high-spending tourists” by 2024. Commenting on the new tourism policy that Goa has approved, Nilesh Shah, President, Travel & Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), says, “We welcome the new tourism policy which was a long-standing demand. But we are not happy with the way it is being implemented and it is not as per our inputs and discussions. The new policy is not what was initially visualised by Manohar Parrikar which was to leave the growth of the tourism industry in the hands of the private sector. The tourism board was to have five members from the private sector and five from the government. But I see that three members have been added to the government side and another three are to be appointed by the government from the industry. As a result, the Board now constitutes of 12 members from or by the government and only 5 to be appointed by the industry.” He added that the tourism board will not be industry-driven as was originally planned and its CEO will be appointed by the government and not from outside as was requested.