Tourism promotion board will be formed: CM
Panaji: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday told the state legislative assembly that the tourism promotion board will be formed in near future to decide on events for promoting Goa’s tourism outside the state.
The announcement was made by Sawant as he rushed to stand up for Tourism Minister Manohar Azgaonkar, who was grilled by the Opposition over the money spent on tourism promotion events and road shows in foreign countries.
The tourism board will comprise all tourism stakeholders, the Chief Minister said, adding that the money paid for the events, which were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are with organisers and not with the event management agency.
The House witnessed heated arguments and noisy scenes during discussion on domestic and international tourism promotion events.
Even as Opposition MLAs demanded that the government must stop holding the wasteful road shows, Azgaonkar claimed that 1.5 crore tourists visited Goa during 2019-20.
“KPMG, a consultancy firm survey revealed that 1.5 crore tourists visited Goa in 2019-20. This could be achieved because of such tourism promotion events and road shows,” he claimed.
Demanding a probe into the road shows, Goa Forward Party MLA Vijai Sardesai raised questions on Rs 33.68 crore spent on various tourism promotion events during the last four years, asking as to why pre-audits of such events are not conducted.
Eschewing a straight answer, the Tourism Minister said that Rs 33 crore are not enough and more funds are needed for effective tourism promotion.
Sardesai alleged that the event management agency was paid its fees despite events being cancelled in Berlin, Moscow and Portugal during coronavirus pandemic. “Two different figures on the arrival of tourists in the state during New Year festivities this year have been given by the Chief Minister and the Tourism Minister. The Tourism Minister claimed that nine lakh domestic and 7000 international tourists visited the state. The Chief Minister maintained that 45 lakh tourists had arrived to Goa to usher in New Year,” Sardesai stated.
Opposition leader Digambar Kamat pointed out that the appointment of a public relations agency for the tourism department is a waste of money and urged not to go for it.
The Opposition MLAs asked as to why the government hesitates to take stakeholders, including the TTAG, into confidence on tourism promotion events.
MGP MLA Ramakrishna Dhavalikar asked whether the government had put a ‘force majeure’ clause in the agreement signed with the event management agency.
The Chief Minister replied that such a clause is not there in the agreement.