50% concession in registration and renewal of C, D category hotels

Panaji: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday announced that the state government will provide 50 per cent concession in the registration and renewal fees of hotels belonging to C and D categories for the current financial year 2021-2022.

“We will provide a concession of 50 per cent for registration and renewal fees for this financial year for category C and D hotels, as most of them are yet to resume operations,” he said.

Addressing a gathering at a function organised in a starred hotel on the outskirts of the city to commemorate ‘World Tourism Day’, Sawant said his government is committed to provide all support to the tourism industry. 

He assured the stakeholders that the government will soon introduce a single-window system to ease the processing of tourism-related event permissions and clearances.

Sawant informed that the state government has written to the Ministry of Home Affairs and External Affairs Ministry seeking permission to resume charter flights. “I am sure we will get the Centre’s nod for special charters in the next few days,” he said. The Chief Minister said the government will seek support from the Centre to boost hinterland tourism in the state. He said the Mopa International Airport would be declared open on August 15, 2022 and added that with the opening of the Mopa airport, the operational issues and landing slots for charters at the Dabolim airport would be resolved permanently.

“Goa has achieved 100 per cent first dose COVID-19 vaccination and we have set a target to complete the second dose by October-end,” he said adding that Goa will soon be declared as the safest tourism destination in the world. He urged the stakeholders to work towards making Goa a favourite film shooting destination.

Sawant assured to implement the ‘Goa Tourism Master Plan’ by taking into confidence the State Tourism Board and tourism stakeholders.

The government also launched four different schemes in the state – Tourist Guide Certification Scheme 2021, Tourist Village Development Scheme 2021, Tourist Trade Support Scheme 2021 and International Charter Support Scheme 2021.

Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar urged the stakeholders to ensure that the tourism activities are opened for tourists by following all the COVID-19 protocols laid down by the state administration and the health department. “The battle against COVID-19 is far from over. We ought to practice caution and see that we follow the protocols,” he said.

Stating that the tourism industry has suffered huge losses in the last 18 months, Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) president Nilesh Shah sought relief from the government including reduction in excise fees.

Goa Tourism Development Corporation chairman Dayanand Sopte, secretary Tourism J Ashok Kumar and others were present on the occasion.

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