‘Educate tourists on drunken driving’

PANAJI: The advisory to desist from driving after drinking is not being successfully disseminated to tourists, said activists and tourism stakeholders, including the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), who felt the tourism department must focus on educating the visitors.

In a suggestion, TTAG said tourism department must print handbills in Hindi and regional languages listing various Do’s and Don’ts — including not to drink and drive, not to smoke in public places, and not to cook in open public places — to hand out to visitors to the state. The department is yet to act on it, TTAG said.

“This (handbill) is the best and most economical way to get the message across to those visiting the state. Signages with lengthy text in it, especially in English, don’t always appeal to tourists,” president TTAG Savio Messias said.

He said the problem of drinking and driving will end once affordable taxis are made available even at night. “Taxis with meters and connected to apps will greatly benefit the public, especially those who would like to drink, but not drive back home,” Messias said.

Agreeing that the tourism department website makes not no mention of what one should and should not do while in the state, Goa Consumer Action Network convener Roland Martins said for example the website only cautions tourists against drug offences and child abuse.

“The tourism department should have allocate a budget to safeguard the lives of tourists and protect them from any harm caused to their bodies and their lives,” Martins said.

“The tourism department needs to aggressively push these messages and the task cannot be left up to the transport department alone, as it is not the department welcoming tourists to the state,” Martins said.

Tourism director Menino D’Souza said drinking and driving is a universal offence and added that the department’s focus is on not drinking on beaches and public places. They are in the process of preparing advisories to be sent out to tourists in this regard, he said.