Saturday, April 1, 2023
Following the presentation of the state budget by Goa Chief Minister PramodSawant, the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) said that it is now banking on the state government to speedily execute the methods delineated for the tourism segment in the budget.
The tourism segment also breathed a sigh of relief uponknowing that there is no increase in fees and levies for tourism-related undertakings. This was among the main suggestions that TTAG had offered to the Goa government.
While the tourism stakeholders were content with the resolve shown by Sawant, they were not happy with the insufficientincrease in distribution for the tourism sector. The TTAG president Nilesh Shah said that the general provision in tourism financial plan is Rs. 262 crores, a portion of which will go toward salary disbursement and management cost. Additionally, this is only asurge of 7% over the budget allocation last year.
Shah said that with no big ticket declarationregarding tourism, they are hoping that spending on infrastructure, the emphasis on comfort of doing business and accomplishment of key projects will lifttourism ofGoa and help all stakeholders.
In its budget references, TTAG had requested the government to keep taxes unaffected, lessencharges of first-class alcohol, fund in public transport and implement rules to protect tourists.
