Goa to introduce incentives schemes for countries, airlines bringing high-spending tourists: Khaunte

Panaji: Goa Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte on Wednesday told the legislative assembly that the state government was working on introducing a scheme for those countries or airline companies that bring in high-spending international tourists.

He also said that all the hotels and guest houses in the state will have to compulsorily upload the data of their guests on the 'TIME' (tourism information management enterprises) software starting April 1.

Khaunte was responding to a question tabled by Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) MLA Viresh Borkar, which led other members, including Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Venzy Viegas, to ask supplementary questions related to the tourism sector.

In his elaborate reply, Khaunte said, "The trend of visitors has changed and we have to change accordingly. That is why, we are promoting the concept of Goa beyond beaches." The tourism department was thinking forward and working on having a global outreach catching on the international trends, he added.

Khaunte said the department wants to introduce airlines incentives schemes which will be applicable only to those countries or airline companies that bring in high-spending international tourists.

The department was trying to enhance the tourism sector through direct flight connectivity, he said.

"Goa houses two airports that provide good connectivity to travellers. We want more FTAs (foreign tourist arrivals) in the state," Khaunte said.

Recently, the state government representatives met Union Civil Aviation Minister (Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu), during which the need to explore possibilities of open sky policy was discussed, he said.

The state government was already working with the Centre to implement the e-visa policy in the state, he said.

Responding to Borkar's question on the data of tourists spending in the state, Khaunte said from April 1 onwards, all the hotels and guest houses will have to compulsorily load the information about tourists on the TIME software.

The department has been requesting the hotels and guest houses to do the same for the last two years, but now it would be made mandatory, he said.

Talking about last year's alleged negative campaign suggesting a decline in tourist arrivals to Goa, Khaunte said the factual position was far from that.

"Narratives were created about the decline in tourism in Goa, but if you go through the data of October, November and December (2024), we had 100 per cent occupancy in hotels," he said.

According to the minister, considering the room tariffs and the rate at which they were booked, the department was sure that the trend of quality over quantity in Goa tourism had started.

The domestic tourist arrival was higher by 22 per cent last year as compared to the year ago period, while there was a three per cent rise in international arrivals.

Khaunte told the House that all this while Goa was depending on only two countries -- UK and Russia -- for international tourist arrivals.

"But we today we are talking about Poland, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and other countries from where tourists are arriving," he added.