PANAJI
As Goa welcomes its first charter flight today -- marking the start of the 2024-25 tourist season -- the State continues to grapple with long-standing issues right from transportation to parking woes, cleanliness, poor road infrastructure and inadequate waste management.
The never-ending conflict between tourist taxi operators and cab aggregators has been widely debated on social media with most comments reflecting dissatisfaction with taxi services and visitor travel experiences.
In a recent incident at the Shree Mahalaxmi Temple premises, a tourist cab driver behaved arrogantly with an elderly tourist couple while they were offering prayers. The driver in an all-white uniform asked the couple to return to the car they hired for their trip without delay while onlookers watched helplessly.
This incident is part of a broader pattern of inappropriate behaviour by taxi drivers if not all, besides clashes with cab aggregators, leaving tourists as the ultimate victims.
The Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) President Jack Sukhija called for streamlining certain aspects while acknowledging improvements in various other tourism-related areas.
“Beyond transportation, which is an issue; the condition of roads is a major concern and rains have damaged it further. Waste management also needs attention as garbage is dumped across roads and highways, although cleanliness on the beaches has been largely maintained,” he stated.
Sukhija also pointed out parking woes, especially in coastal areas and urged the government to explore alternatives for visitors to access beaches without causing inconvenience to anyone.
However, stakeholders asked the government not to bog down to undue pressure from certain factions of people, citing taxi operators’ pressure tactics to maintain a monopoly in the travel sector. While the government has protected GoaMiles and Goa Taxi App for continuity, former TTAG President Nilesh Shah stressed the importance of developing internationally recognized public transport apps.
“We have apps for public transport but we need a system that caters to international tourists with greater transparency. Transport is crucial to tourism and certain groups cannot be allowed to take it for granted,” he said referring to rivalry between tourist taxi operators and app-based taxi services.
Stakeholders also pointed out that many tourist taxi operators are simultaneously running rental bike and car services under their family members' names. They also called for action to reduce road accidents stating that some of these involve tourists driving recklessly on streets and beaches.
A reduction in taxes, even for those indirectly contributing to tourism, along with the release of a white paper on GST and other revenue earned from tourism are other key demands.
“The government inadvertently increases taxes,” another stakeholder lamented adding, “When the government talks about tourism as the main industry, it must consider not only mainstream players but also smaller contributors like vegetable sellers, fishermen, gardeners and carpenters, etc. We need a sustainable model that includes all facets of the industry.”
