Tag Archives: GTDC

Nikhil Desai, MD, GTDC, has said that a 1400 seat convention centre is being built in the capital city of Panjim. “That will take care of the medium sized conventions, both domestic and international. Apart from that we have plans to have a 5000 seater convention and expo centre right in Dona Paula, which is on the outskirts of Panaji City, with all facilities like hotels, parking and entertainments features.”

Goa Tourism Development Corporation planning road shows and exhibitions in four major cities in October and November, which will be held in Paris (France) around October 26, Zurich (Switzerland) around October 28, Frankfurt (Germany) around November 1, and Vienna (Austria) around November 3. A delegation of 75  people will include politicians, bureaucrats, representatives from travel and tour operators and other stakeholders in the tourism industry. GTDC is organising the road show and has floated a Request For Proposal (RFP) from an agency who can organise and manage the Goa Tourism side at these roadshows.

Nikhil Desai, Managing Director, Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC), has said that a new convention centre is being opened by the end of year to boost MICE Tourism in the state of Goa. MICE will be one of the products that will be in focus of their strategy, he revealed. He said that they are working towards repositioning Goa apart from sun, sand and sea. “While Goa is synonymous with sun, sand and sea, we are trying to attract the attention of tourists to various other offerings in Goa including wildlife, nature, MICE, etc.” he added. He also informed that they are seeing a huge rise in social events in the last one year at a number of properties across Goa.

Government of Goa has constituted a 19-member tourism board and has dissolved three panels called the state-level promotion and marketing committee, the high-powered monitoring committee, and the state-level permission committee. Hence, all decisions pertaining to tourism in the state will be taken by this committee. Confirming the news, Nikhil Desai, MD, GTDC, has said that they have already been taking care of infrastructure, development and hotels under GTDC. The marketing had been taken care of by Goa Tourism, and will now be under the purview of the committee.

Beach shacks in Goa are likely to start opening from November, according to Nikhil Desai, Managing Director, Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC). “Shack allotment process across the state is already underway and we are expecting them to open in November,” he said. According to reports, the GTDC earlier this week started demarcating Goa’s north coastal belt which includes Candolim, Calangute and, Anjuna. It is believed that the demarcation process in South Goa will happen after that.

The Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC), Government of Goa has started work on getting all its tourism stakeholders under the organised sector. It has outsourced this to Goa Electronics that will do data collection of all tourism stakeholders right from travel agents, tourist guides, taxi drivers as well as hotel owners and bring them on a single platform. Revati Mujumdar, CEO and Executive Director, Goa Electronics, says, “Part of the framework or data structure for collation is already happening. A majority of stakeholders have been brought onto the database.” She also spoke about working on product personalisation for every tourist entering Goa using Artificial Intelligence, but that is a few years down the line. Goa Electronics is associated with GTDC for developing and maintaining its website, its app and the state-owned online hotel bookings.

Goa Tourism will be focusing on improving their infrastructure as they wait for things to come back to normal, reveals Nikhil Desai, MD, Goa Tourism Development Corporation. “In the coming year, we will focus on domestic market and further consolidate our presence in weddings, M!CE, adventure and leisure tourism. We are also using this time to ramp up our tourism infrastructure to world-class standards and focusing on introduction of new services and products. We are also focusing on completion of Swadesh Darshan projects sanctioned by the MOT. We are looking forward for sanction of financial assistance by MOT for development of UNESCO World Heritage site at old goa under PRASHAD scheme. We are also undertaking work for development of hinterland circuit in North Goa under Swadesh Darshan scheme. So, while we wait for things to come back to normal, we have doubled our efforts on improving the tourism infrastructure,” he said.

Goa might open for tourism after the lockdown gets over on May 17, it was revealed by Pramod Sawant, Chief Minister, Goa, has said that they will welcome tourists, provided the Central Government allows it. Speaking on the same, Nikhil Desai, Managing Director, Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) said, “Just like all the stakeholders, Goa Tourism is also eagerly awaiting normalisation of the current situation. The current priority is to fight COVID 19, However economic livelihood of the people is also extremely important. For a state like Goa, which depends overwhelmingly on tourism, it’s important that situation normalises at the earliest. We are looking forward to early commencement of tourism season.” However, when asked if it would be the first state to bounce back after lockdown, especially with no reported case of COVID-19, Desai, said, “Unfortunately, until and unless the situation in rest of the country stabilises and comes back to normal, Goa alone being COVID free cannot do much. After all we are banking heavily on domestic tourism to see us through this current season. All will depend on how fast the flights and rail connectivity returns to normal and only then we can expect a sizeable flow into Goa.

Goa has appointed a new tourism minister Manohar Azgaonkar. Under his leadership, Goa Tourism is planning to introduce new initiatives and infrastructure projects, promote the diverse cultures of the state and focus on improving all its products and services. Azgaonkar has travelled extensively and is set to infuse new concepts and ideas into the tourism sector here in Goa. In another development, Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) has re-appointed Nilesh Cabral as Chairman. He is the current MLA of Curchorem Taluka. Under his leadership, GTDC has taken huge strides and given a new dimension to Goa Tourism. In his previous stint as Chairman of GTDC, the corporation achieved several milestones i.e the GTDC became a profit making corporation, introduced new and attractive activities and initiatives, formed a (Special Purpose Vehicle) SPV cell to expedite tourism infrastructure projects, procured funding from Central Govt. schemes and has lined up new project for construction and commissioning in the next two to three years.

Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) has brought all tourism business’ under the ambit of cashless transactions. Whether hotel reservations, package tours, cruise rides or any other tourism service, GTDC has introduced systems that have facilitated cashless transactions, both on-line and off-line. Cashless facility is made possible by GTDC through online portal, booking of services and products through mobile app on iOS and android platform at GTDC residencies and restaurants through point-of-sale machines thus enabling a 360-degree approach to the new cashless system. GTDC is also working  to introduce  pay wallets and  talks are  underway  with  leading pay wallet  providers so that  pay wallets can be accepted  as another mode of   cashless payments. The Santa Monica Jetty also offers payments through credit cards and debit cards. Nilesh Cabral, Chairman of Goa Tourism Development Corporation said, “To further this  process,  the launch of  the  new e-commerce portal and mobile app  in February this year has  provided  a fool-proof platform for e-business and cashless transactions  also bringing  other tourism stakeholders into the cashless circuit. Official records from the  GTDC reveal that  cashless transactions  to the tune  of Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh are executed daily for various  services provided by the GTDC which  is in addition to  cashless  transactions recorded on GTDC’s e-commerce portal and mobile app.” Gavin Dias,  General Manager (Hotels), GTDC said,  “All GTDC residencies are provided with point-of-sale (POS) machines to facilitate cashless payments and most tourists prefer to use this facility. It is encouraging to see tourists opting for cashless transactions.” He pointed out that  in addition to  cashless business for  GTDC’s hotel accommodation,  GTDC through the e-commerce portal has direct tie ups with  more than  160 …