Panaji, Jan 11 (IANS) Goa's travel and tourism stakeholders on Friday trained their guns on Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar for not doing enough to improve tourism footfalls while slamming a government proposal to cap food prices in restaurants and beach shacks in Goa.
"Capping food prices, I would consider a joke. Can anybody cap the prices of food?" Savio Messias, President of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), told the media.
After Goa saw a dip in the number of tourist arrivals for the second-year running, Ajgaonkar said that the tourism ministry was working on a mechanism to enforce capping of prices on menus in shacks and restaurants.
Any restaurant or shack which prices food and beverages above Rs 500 would be fined according to the proposed plan, Ajgaonkar had said.
Beach shack operators have already opposed the move to cap food item prices on their menus.
While provisional figures of tourist arrivals have not been released by the Tourism Ministry for the 2018-19 tourism season, hoteliers and travel industry experts have pegged a fall in footfalls to the tune of 30-35 per cent.
Goa is known for its beach and nightlife tourism and attracts more than seven million tourists every year, half a million of which are foreigners. Goa's tourism season starts in October and ends in March.
About Gopi
Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.
He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.
When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.
He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz