Tag: Goa Tourism

Russians continued to top the list of foreign tourists to Goa in 2018, with British tourists ranking second, according to statistics tabled during the ongoing budget session of the Goa Assembly on Wednesday. A total of 3.11 lakh Russians arrived in Goa from January to October 2018, Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar said in a written reply. Another 1.48 lakh tourists from the UK also landed in Goa during the same period. Ukraine ranked third with 10,466 tourists. Overall, 6.04 lakh foreign tourists visited Goa from January to October 2018, said Ajgaonkar.

Mandovi Bridge Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways will inaugurate the newly built, 5.1 km long, four-lane, cable stayed bridge over river Mandovi in Goa on Sunday, 27th January 2019. The bridge will support and sustain burgeoning traffic in Panjim. It will facilitate routing of Mumbai bound traffic coming in from Bangalore via Ponda route and Old Goa towards NH-17, bypassing the main Panjim City. It will also help overcome the bottlenecks caused at Panaji KTC Circle, and Panaji Entrance as the same route is currently being used by local traffic as well as NH-17 Highway bound ... Read more

Goa, the state known for its beach tourism, is planning to ban drinking liquor in public places and beaches.  Goa Cabinet has approved the amendment to the provision of strict disciplinary measures to ban food and cooking food besides drinking alcohol. As per the new law, the offenders will be imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 or three months imprisonment. Goa Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar said the amendment was aimed at preventing liquor bottles in the beaches, discouraging alcohol and cooking food. “Nobody can drink alcohol on our beaches and tourist places any more. Bottles cannot be carried there. Food ... Read more

Uncontrolled taxi fares, rude nature of policemen, who are over enthusiastic in penalizing outstation vehicles are said to be the root cause of decline in inbound tourists in Goa. Savio Messias, President of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa, said that the 30-40 per cent decline in the tourist footfalls in the coastal tourist destination is also due to the inability to handle the mushrooming garbage crisis, which had led to Japanese, Finnish and Danish tour operators to abstain from Goa, stating ‘safety and health concerns’. “There is widespread indiscipline among taxi operators and drivers, which is one of ... Read more

  Enable Travel, an accessible holiday specialist to introduce ‘wheel chair taxi’ in Goa to enable physically challenged tourists to move around without any accessibility issues. The programme will be implemented in association with Ezy Mov, India’s fisrt point-to-point wheel chair taxi service. In the first phase, five such vehicles will be introduced in January 2019. “Goa is one of the most popular travel destinations in India for both domestic and international tourists. However, due to lack of such facilities, people with mobility issues are unable to experience it. We have partnered with Ezy Mov, who are experienced to address ... Read more

As part of the State’s policy to boost sustainable tourism, Goa has introduced electric bikes (e-bikes) for tourists who visit Goa. The programme, first-of-its-kind in India, as claimed by the officials, were launched by the tourism minister Manohar Azgaonkar and Chairperson of the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) Dayanand Sopte on Friday, 16th November 2018. The programme is implemented in association with Acris Tours Pvt Ltd. Goa Tourism Minister Manohar Azgaonkar and Chairperson of the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) Dayanand Sopte at the launch of e-bikes Conceptualized by the electric vehicle tourism platform ‘B:Live’, e-bikes are equipped with hi-tech ... Read more

Goa Tourism has a new information and facilitation counter at Goa Niwas in New Delhi. Power Minister Nilesh Cabral, who is also the chairman of Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC), has inaugurated the facility. “GTDC receives a lot of enquiries from people in Delhi. The counter will provide information regarding Goa Tourism services and facilities available for visitors from Delhi and nearby areas,” said the minister after inaugurating the facility. “With the opening of this counter, guests will be facilitated and Goa tourism brochures ,CDs and other publicity material will be displayed at the counter for the information of the ... Read more

Goa tourism department is inviting tender for providing comprehensive cleaning services in the beaches of the state, for a period of five years. Cleaning works will include collection, segregation, transportation and disposal of garbage from various beaches. 10th October 2018 is the last date to submit the tender. The previous contract for cleaning given to two Mumbai based contractors has ended up in controversy, alleging multi-crore scams associated in the award. Ram Cleaners and Developers Pvt. Ltd. And Bhumika Clear Tech Services were the companies who got the previous contract in 2016. The Goa tourism department did not have the ... Read more

Goa’s tourism season will start from 4th October 2018, with arrival of the first chartered flight from Russia, carrying tourists. It was informed by Savio Messiah, President of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG). Goa has its conventional visitors from Russia and the UK to cheer the tourist season, though there is competition from the Middle East and European countries. Now a days Goa does not have an off season, as the domestic tourists who come from across the country makes it lively throughout the year, even in monsoon. The state’s lone airport has been receiving a good ... Read more

Aguada Fort, Goa As part of the Paryatan Parv (Tourism festival) celebrations, a rally was organized at Aguada Fort by the Goa Tourism Department in Association with the India Tourism Goa and Institute of Hotel Management on Monday. Over 100 officials from India Tourism Goa, Goa Tourism and students from IHM and other local stake holders have participated in the rally. The history of Aguada Fort was explained to the participants by the Assistant Director of India Tourism Goa. He exhorted the locals the need of keeping the fort and surroundings clean. Students from IHM have participated in a cleaning ... Read more

GOAMILES, Goa’s first mobile app based taxi service,  was launched by Manohar Parrikar, Chief Minister of Goa at the Secretariat Complex, Porvorim. GOAMILES will provide the convenience of booking a taxi immediately upon arrival in the state at reasonable, government approved rates. The GOAMILES app can be downloaded from Google Play Store and Apple Store. Speaking at the launch, Parrikar said, “Goa can now take tourists for miles through the new app based taxi service which will be affordable and give travellers a comfortable journey from the time they arrive till they leave. I congratulate Goa Tourism for launching this initiative ... Read more

ഗോവക്കാരായ കുടിയന്മാർ നേരെ നടക്കുമ്പോൾ സന്ദർശകരായി വരുന്ന കുടിയന്മാർ ആടിയാടി നടക്കുന്നു- പരാമർശം ഗോവ ടൂറിസം മന്ത്രി മനോഹർ അജ്ഗാവങ്കറിന്റേതാണ്‌. ഗോവയുടെ സംസ്കാരം മാനിക്കാത്ത സന്ദർശകർ ഇവിടേയ്ക്ക് വരേണ്ടെന്നും മന്ത്രി പറഞ്ഞു. മയക്കു മരുന്ന് ഉപയോഗിക്കുന്നവർ, ബീച്ച് വൃത്തികേടാക്കുന്നവർ ഇവർക്കൊന്നും ഇവിടെ ഇടമില്ലന്നും മന്ത്രി നിയമസഭയിൽ പറഞ്ഞു. പല സന്ദർശകരും മദ്യപിച്ച് നടുറോഡിൽ ശല്യമുണ്ടാക്കുകയാണ്. ഇതനുവദിക്കാൻ കഴിയില്ല. ബീച്ചുകളിലും വഴിയോരങ്ങളിലും വഴിവാണിഭം നടത്തുന്നതും വലിയ പ്രശ്നമാണ്. നിലവിലെ നിയമം ഈ പ്രശ്നങ്ങൾ പരിഹരിക്കാൻ പര്യാപ്തമല്ല. ഇവരെ ഒഴിപ്പിക്കാൻ ചെന്നാൽ ഇവർ സാധനങ്ങൾ ഉപേക്ഷിച്ച് ഓടിയൊളിക്കും. പിന്നീട് ഈ സാധനങ്ങൾ എടുക്കാൻ ഇവർ വരാറില്ല. ബീച്ചുകളിലെ മാലിന്യ പ്രശനം പരിഹരിക്കാൻ വാട്സ് ആപ് നമ്പർ നൽകിയിട്ടുണ്ട്. ഏതെങ്കിലും ബീച്ചിൽ മാലിന്യം കണ്ടാൽ അതിന്റെ ചിത്രമെടുത്തു ഈ വാട്സ് ആപ് നമ്പറിൽ ഇട്ടാൽ മതി. പന്ത്രണ്ടു മണിക്കൂറിനകം പരിഹാരം കണ്ടിരിക്കുമെന്നും ഗോവൻ ടൂറിസം മന്ത്രി പറഞ്ഞു. ഗോവൻ സംസ്കാരം മാനിക്കാത്ത സഞ്ചാരികളെ ആട്ടിയോടിക്കുമെന്ന പ്രസ്താവനയിലൂടെ ... Read more

“Tourists who do not respect the culture of Goa and create nuisance by littering on the beaches or taking narcotic drugs are not welcome in the state”, said Manohar Ajgaonkar, Tourism Minister of Goa. He was talking in the Legislative Assembly on 26th July 2018.The minister also said that existing laws were not strong enough to confront the nuisance created by hawkers on the beaches in the state According to Ajgoankar there is a difference between a drunk Goan and a tourist who is drunk. “Goans will walk straight on the road while tourists walk shaking their body,” said the minister. Speaking on other issues at the beach like stray animals, ... Read more

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s announcement of imposing fines for those who drink in public and littering public places is welcomed by the Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar. He further urged tourists to abstain from misbehaving with women under the influence of alcohol. It was on Monday, Parrikar had announced that from August 15 those who drink alcohol in public would be fined Rs 2,500. People found littering would also face sheer fines. A notification in this regard would be issued shortly, he said. Ajgaonkar rejected the possible shortfall in the inflow of tourists to Goa due to the fine. Instead, ... Read more

Casinos in Goa to be retained and legalized as per a recent research paper published by a scholar of south Goa. Dr. Afonso Botelho, an associate professor of Sociology at the Rosary College of Commerce and Arts. He explains in his paper that the Indian middle class tourism is in a boom stage and preserving the casinos would help the economic development of the region. However, the study specifies that sustainable strategies to be implemented to counteract possible ill-effects of casino gambling. Dr. Afonso also recommended setting up of an authority to regulate casinos in order to contain the potential ... Read more