Goa: App-based cabs ‘to start with Mopa airport’

Times of India | 4 days ago | 02-10-2022 | 09:42 am

PANAJI: Transport minister Mauvin Godinho said on Saturday that app-based taxis will start in Goa along with the Mopa International Airport becoming functional. “We will allow multi-modal transport at the Mopa airport,” he told TOI. “We will allow counters of pre-paid taxis, GoaMiles, Ola and Uber if they want to start, rent-a-car, (regular) taxis, and buses, at Mopa.” Godinho said that he doesn’t want the Mopa airport to face the same problems that Dabolim does with regard to transport. “Taxi owners do not want to use meters, nor do they want to develop their own app,” he said. “I want taxi operators at Dabolim airport to fall in line, else they will lose business once two airports are operational.” Explaining his stance, Godinho said that if taxi operators harass commuters at Dabolim airport and commuters get a wide choice of transport options at Mopa, most travellers will choose to fly through Mopa airport, leading to taxi operators losing business in Dabolim. “Electric KTC buses, rickshaws and two-wheeler motorbike taxis will all be aligned digitally to the last mile connectivity, which will ease the whole process. The main aim is to offer a choice to tourists as well as locals,” Godinho said. During the monsoon session, the state government had offered to help taxi operators if they wanted to start their own app. On Wednesday, CM Pramod Sawant said that app-based taxis will be available in Goa “soon, by November”, and that work has already started by the government. “Actually, we wanted to make app-based taxis available in Goa, before the tourist season for the year began,” Sawant told TOI. “As per our promise earlier, work on it has started. App-based taxis should be available in Goa soon, by November. ” Goa’s tourism season officially kicks off from the first week of October. The introduction of app-based taxis in Goa is being resisted by local private taxi associations in the state, who claim that their business will be severely affected.

Read more

Share:

Similar News

Aeroflot to operate 3 Russia-Goa flights/week

Times of India | 1 day ago | 05-10-2022 | 06:30 am

Times of India

1 day ago | 05-10-2022 | 06:30 am

PANAJI: Russia’s largest airline, Aeroflot, will operate three flights a week beginning November 2 from Moscow to Goa. Aruz, another Russian airline, will also be flying charter tourists into Goa. A tour and travel operator said the slots of landing for the two airlines have been approved. Russian president Vladimir Putin not imposing a travel ban on his countrymen has been good news in terms of boost to travel, the operator said. Ernest Dias, chief operating officer at Sita, said that the numbers will be no match to the pre-pandemic period, when Goa would receive one or even two charters a day during the tourism season. “Charters would come from various parts of Russia, not just Moscow.,” said Dias. ‘No clarity on UK charter ops due to e-visa issue’Also, charters in operation will be of smaller carrying capacity of fewer than 300 passengers, unlike earlier, when bigger flights with more than 500 passengers would arrive,” said Dias. Dias said that charters from Kazakhstan are expected later this month, but there is no clarity about the UK scene, although TUI Airways was keen to resume operations. The situation appears difficult due to the non-issuance of e-visas to UK travellers by India. Stakeholders were hoping the Indian government softens its stand and issues e-visas to Britishers. The Goa government has already taken up the issue with the Centre, while a trade body has made several petitions to the government. Last season, Goa received charters from Russia and Kazakhstan, altogether bringing in about 7,630 tourists. The brief charter season started in December 2021 and ended in March, soon after the Russia-Ukraine war started. A heavy flow of domestic arrivals has kept the industry in good shape, but stakeholders say that charter tourists are needed to keep cash registers of smaller hotels ringing, as this segment has not benefited from increased domestic footfalls over the past one-and-a-half years. In 2021, Goa received 33 lakh domestic tourists and around 22,000 foreigners.

To attract high-end domestic tourists, Goa needs to get its basics right, say stakeholders

Times of India | 2 days ago | 04-10-2022 | 04:57 am

Times of India

2 days ago | 04-10-2022 | 04:57 am

Panaji: While the aim of the Goa Tourism Policy, 2020, is to make Goa the most preferred destination of India’s high-spending tourists by 2024, the debate over whether the focus should indeed be on the niche segment has not ceased.The tourism policy has also set a target to make Goa a world-class international tourism destination by 2030. However, scaling the heights to attain the goals spelt out in the policy appears mammoth in the face of the inadvertent growth spurt the sector has been witnessing ever since the hippies thronged the state’s idyllic shores in the 1970s.Chairperson of the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) Ralph de Souza said the targets set by the policy are achievable if the focus lies on creating the infrastructure required to boost quality tourism.“We need seamless infrastructure, a golf course, marinas and overall quality in all kinds of tourism services. The government will not admit it, but the task cut out is fraught with hurdles. If planning any major infrastructure project was difficult 10 or 15 years ago, it is even more challenging today,” a stakeholder said.Over the past two decades, the government has talked about establishing a golf course in the state. The one planned at Tiracol in North Goa was mired in controversy since its inception and the promoters of the project filed for bankruptcy last year. The influx of holidaymakers, meanwhile, has only kept increasing over the last three decades. Before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Goa hosted 80-90 lakh domestic tourists and nine lakh foreign visitors each year, with industry insiders claiming that annual domestic tourist footfalls could be much higher if unregistered inventory is factored in. Chief minister Pramod Sawant and tourism minister Rohan Khaunte have been keen on creating the required infrastructure to give tourism a shot in the arm, but stakeholders said Goa has a long way to go before it reaches anywhere close to its targets. Also, while tourism stakeholders reaped rich dividends of the growing industry, the ill-effects of over-concentration along the state’s beaches either went unnoticed or ignored. “I see beaches getting destroyed little by little and empty spaces being littered with plastic and other waste. For a high-end tourist, waste dumped either at beaches or other places is appalling,” said a top hotelier on condition of anonymity.Chairman of the Kudchadkar Group of Companies, Nandan Kudchadkar, said that part of the problem can be dealt with by introducing a law to attach the vehicles and belongings of people defacing and littering Goa. He further said that those dependent on tourism also have a responsibility to keep public spaces clean, because whether they are hoteliers, shack operators or taxi drivers, everybody is a brand ambassador for the state.Nevertheless, tourism in the state is expected to get a much-needed boost once the first phase of the Mopa international airport becomes operational in the next two months. The commissioning of the second Zuari bridge and the completion of the four-laning of NH 66 will also help speed up traffic movement.“Even before the state proposes to have a golf course, marinas or works to increase the presence of high-end brands, the government has to get its basics right,” a hotelier said.

‘Will oppose water sports by non-locals’

Times of India | 2 days ago | 04-10-2022 | 02:40 am

Times of India

2 days ago | 04-10-2022 | 02:40 am

Margao: Taking up cudgels for water sports operators of South Goa, GFP chief Vijai Sardesai on Monday said that his party will oppose any moves by the government to bring in “anti-local policies that will snatch all water sports activities from their hands and offer them to big corporates”.“We are being vocal for local. Water sports is a local business and should remain with locals, not with outsider lobbies,” Sardesai told reporters after a delegation of South Goa water sports association called on him with their grievances. Sardesai said that the water sports operators were apprehensive that the government intends to hand over the water sports business to corporates, thereby snatching their livelihoods, by bringing in jetty policy and in the name of ease of doing business. “The government wants the water sports operators to sign an undertaking that they will abide by the rules formed by the government governing water sports. They have decided to sign the undertaking but with a clause that the agreement be without prejudice to their rights and contentions,” Sardesai said. The Fatorda MLA also demanded that water sports in South Goa resume at the earliest as such activities have already begun on the North Goa beaches.However, he said that water sports operators were willing to cooperate with the government in so far as bringing in regulations concerning safety aspects or with regards to maintaining a queue system.“But in the guise of making a queue system, you can’t allow (corporates) to take over the business. This goes against the fundamental right of the local water sports operators to do business,” Sardesai said.He urged the government, particularly the tourism department, to take all stakeholders into confidence before finalising the new tourism policy.

Have written to CM for reduction in shack fees: Calangute MLA Michael Lobo

Times of India | 2 days ago | 03-10-2022 | 11:42 am

Times of India

2 days ago | 03-10-2022 | 11:42 am

CALANGUTE: Calangute MLA Michael Lobo on Sunday said that he has handed over a memorandum to chief minister Pramod Sawant asking for reduction in beach shack fees because of the uncertainty over the arrival of foreign charter tourists. He also said that tourism minister Rohan Khaunte has assured him that the fees will be reduced. Lobo said the shacks reliant on foreign tourists have not been getting business with no charter flights in the last two seasons. “Till now there is no sign of foreign charters. They have asked for (landing) slots but till now there is no confirmation,” he said.

Goa Tourism holds roadshow in TN

Times of India | 5 days ago | 01-10-2022 | 04:57 am

Times of India

5 days ago | 01-10-2022 | 04:57 am

Panaji: After evoking a good response to three Goa@60-themed roadshows held at Ahmedabad, Udaipur and Varanasi in North India, the Goa government’s fourth roadshow commenced at Madurai, the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu, on Friday.Inaugurating the event, director of Goa Tourism Nikhil Desai said the roadshows are primarily aimed at showcasing the “numerous and spectacular progress” made by the state government in various sectors and also to enhance tourism activities.Desai said to increase footfalls and flow of tourists, including domestic and foreign nationals, roadshows have been organised at various locations in the country. He urged the people from Tamil Nadu to visit Goa and further said that “Goa is very vibrant, endowed with natural and scenic beauty”. Among those present for the inaugurtion were S M Sribalamurugan, district tourist officer, department of tourism, Tamil Nadu; Deepak Narvekar, deputy general manager and PRO Goa Tourism along with Prakash Naik, information officer, Shyam Gaonkar, assistant information officer, department of information and publicity, and Prasad Kavlekar, manager, marketing, tourism department.

More News

Latest News