Goa minister Rohan Khaunte meets water sports operators to iron out issues

Times of India | 3 hours ago | 11-10-2022 | 06:54 am

PANAJI: Aimed at streamlining the system before the season gets busier, tourism minister Rohan Khaunte recently met with water sports operators to discuss various problems faced by them. The crucial issues the department wants to deal with are cheating of customers, illegal operators, rampant touting and over charging. A tourism official said that water sports activities should be an enjoyable experience for tourists and that accidents should be avoided. Some operators spoke about illegal travel agencies operating from starred hotels that fleece tourists. They also sell packages of water sports activities at Malvan in Maharashtra, a prominent tourist spot of the neighbouring state,, they alleged, and demanded that these illegal agencies be stopped. The complainants were asked to share names of these agencies so that action can be taken against them, the officer said. On the issue of rate charts, the department said that it wants to notify common rates for various water sports activities. While operators had earlier been instructed to display boards in their zones specifying the rates, only a few do it. Also, just five operators have submitted their rate charts after being asked to. The others have been asked to submit the same within seven days, the official said. Operators have also been instructed to follow a queue system and to function in their demarcated areas in order to avoid clashes. “Issues such as queue management, standardisation of rates and demarcation of boundaries will be managed through a GEL software,” the officer said. The demand for a lifetime licence to operate boats for joy rides was rejected by the department, but the official said that the possibility of issuing licences for a longer term could be considered. There was a request to set-up a toilet at Nerul beach to which Khaunte agreed to identify and provide suitable land. Water sports operators were also instructed not to indulge in unhealthy trade practice and adopt modern technology.

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New visa rules likely to bring fewer Brits to Goa this season

Times of India | 3 hours ago | 11-10-2022 | 06:42 am

Times of India

3 hours ago | 11-10-2022 | 06:42 am

PANAJI: If the Omicron variant of Covid-19 combined with non-issuance of e-visas to UK travellers led to cancellation of charters from the UK to Goa during the last tourist season, a change in visa rules has proved a spoiler this year. Goa will likely see fewer arrivals of tourists from the UK this season as Tui Airlines, which was desiring to operate four flights a week starting November, may start with a single trip a week. Recently, the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) was informed by TUI about the impending problem. Besides increased travel costs, the complexity and inconvenience in getting a visa has led to a high number of cancellations. With the reduction in load factor, TUI informed TTAG that a point has been reached where it will not be able to operate the four flights a week. “To reach the required minimum seats to operate the aircraft, we will amalgamate the two flights from Manchester and two from Gatwick into one from each departure point — Gatwick on Friday and Manchester on Saturday,” TUI said. The arrangement will last till the second week of December. “From December 13, we are still selling the four flights per week, but this could also change,” the communication read. A traveller has to appear in person at a visa centre in the UK while applying for a tourist visa has proved to be a stumbling block. Even if a traveller wishes to travel an extra mile to visit the centre, it is not necessary that he will be lucky enough to get an appointment, said a local tour operator. “Uncertainty over visas has led to cancellations of bookings by Britons, but the picture about the total business lost will be clear only next week,” a local operator said. Last season, Goa had not received a single charter flight from the UK with TUI cancelling its plan. TTAG president Nilesh Shah told TOI that chief minister Pramod Sawant had spoken to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMOs) office, trying his best to see that the visa issue was resolved before the season could start, but the status quo hasn’t changed. Similarly, arrivals of tourists from Kazakhstan may also be affected due to visa issues.

Nothing can stop GoaMiles counter at airport: Mauvin

Times of India | 5 hours ago | 11-10-2022 | 04:11 am

Times of India

5 hours ago | 11-10-2022 | 04:11 am

Panaji: GoaMiles, the government’s app-based taxi service, will once again have its counter at the Goa International Airport at Dabolim, transport minister Mauvin Godinho said on Monday. “The GoaMiles counter will be operational (again) in Goa by coming Monday. These harsh decisions may make me unpopular among the taxi operators, but I will face the (taxi) mafia. Even if it comes to my safety, I will not budge,” he said. Godinho said that the GoaMiles service will be available at the upcoming airport at Mopa as well, along with a multimodal transport aggregator system wherein travellers will be able to book their choice of cabs, electric buses, autorickshaws or even motorcycle pilots through an app. GoaMiles was launched in 2018 under the Goa Tourism Development Corporation as an affordable alternative for taxis in the state. The app-based service gained popularity among the tourists as well as Goans travelling to and from the airport. However, the service faced hostility and protests from tourist taxi operators, who intimidated GoaMiles customers and even threatened the drivers who ran the service. After several incidents, the government was forced to shut the counter at the Dabolim airport, on October 10, last year. The service however continued to operate via the app.

‘Withdraw word limit for jetty policy inputs’

Times of India | 7 hours ago | 11-10-2022 | 02:40 am

Times of India

7 hours ago | 11-10-2022 | 02:40 am

Panaji: A voluntary organisation, Goyche Fudle Pilge Khatir, on Monday in a letter to the tourism minister, secretary, director and public grievance officer of the tourism department called for withdrawal of conditions imposed by the department on the general public for sending in objections to the draft jetty policy 2022. It also called for the policy to be made available in vernacular languages, besides English.The organisation has said it will reject the draft and final jetty policy as well as initiating a mass agitation to oppose the policy if the two conditions of sending in objections and suggestions only via email and restricted to 500 “Your office will be held responsible and accountable for the consequences that will flow from your adamant conduct of affairs,” the organisation stated. “We wish to remind you that not all the people living in riparian lands and coastal areas of Goa have email addresses. Making email submissions compulsory is a sign of absurdity, intended towards exclusion of mass of Goans from the process of decision making,” president of the organisation J Mascarenhas stated.It also said that the word limit to objections and suggestions is in violation of Article 19 of the Constitution as it introduces “gagging as mode of governance”.“We have also noted that the draft jetty policy is circulated only in English, bypassing Konkani in Roman and Devanagiri script along with Marathi. This has contributed towards exclusion of mass of people of Goa from decision making,” the organisation statedasking the department to stop taking people of Goa for granted in the name of the draft jetty policy 2022.The organisation will organise a public discussion of the draft jetty policy 2022 at 4:30pm on October 12 at Grace Church hall, Margao for the public. Social activists Swapnesh Sherlekar and Avinash Tavares as well as Bharat Mukti Morcha activist Sebastiao Rodrigues will explain the draft policy to the public.

2 lakh jobs tobe availablein state: CM

Times of India | 7 hours ago | 11-10-2022 | 02:40 am

Times of India

7 hours ago | 11-10-2022 | 02:40 am

Bicholim: Chief minister Pramod Sawant on Sunday urged the youth of the state to also look at jobs in the private sector instead of only hankering for government jobs. There are around two lakh jobs for the taking in the hospitality and tourism sector over the next two years, provided youngsters upgrade their skills by taking advantage of the various development programmes. “We are determined to make the slogan ‘self-sufficient Goa’, a success for which youngsters must become professionals and create employment opportunities,” Sawant said.He was speaking after inaugurating an employment seminar at Kudne, Bicholim.

IIT Mandi start up to launch world’s first giant swing backed by AI in Manali

The Indian Express | 1 day ago | 09-10-2022 | 05:40 pm

The Indian Express

1 day ago | 09-10-2022 | 05:40 pm

Come January, tourists in Manali will be able to get adrenaline rush riding a giant swing backed by Artificial Intelligence (AI), which has been built by a start up incubated at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mandi and is claimed to be the first-of-its kind in the world.Founded by four childhood adventure enthusiast friends who are engineers and certified rock climbers and mountaineers, the start up called ‘ManaliSwing’, has completed its human jump trials and is in process of filing five patents for the concept and design.The team claims it has already been approached by Dubai government to launch the swing in the country and is in conversation with interested agencies in Switzerland too.“We will offer one of the world’s most creative and safe giant swing like bungy jumping but instead of going down on rubber bungy cord, here one freefall followed by giant swing on dual dynamic ropes with over 100 possible jump styles allowing one to experience the adrenaline of 70m free fall with AI promising impeccable safety like never before,” Utsav Soni, one of the founders, told PTI.“The plan is to launch in Manali on new year. The tourists will have to pay Rs 3,000 for each jump. The cost will include transportation from a certain point and professional photography and videography service,” he added.The start up conducted a full-scale trial of 1,000 dummy jumps followed by successful Human Jumps under the special presence of IRATA experts at IIT Hyderabad.“The AI will also help track participants and jump master’s performance across millions of data points and deliver optimized approvals for jumping. Having a really intelligent AI will be an edge for a Jump Master and his team making sure no injury, incident, or causality can happen on the site. For example, AI will not approve the jump if there is anything wrong with the followed jump protocol or international standards.“This will be one of the best intersections of technology, innovation and adventure sport of this decade which has potential to disrupt the whole adventure tourism industry. The good part is that we don’t need to have some special hi-tech cameras and expensive setups to do this. This can be franchised anywhere in the world with an existing standard hi-res CCTV security camera feed,” he added.The team has plans to launch the second similar swing in Goa and then take the technology to other countries.“India, despite been world’s youngest country with 50 per cent population below 25, stands at 96th position in global Adventure Tourism Competitive Index (ATDI) 2020. That too is consistently decreasing since last 4 years. India ranks much lower than its neighbours, Bhutan (14th), and Nepal (67th). Especially, when there is a 178 per cent increase in demand of adventure activity in last 3 years.“Somewhere, India has failed to cultivate the culture of innovation in extreme adventure tourism. It’s Incredible India but not innovative India in terms of adventure tourism compared to its global potential. We already have been approached by Dubai government and talks are on at Switzerland too but plan is to launch in India first,” Soni said.The project which was conceptualised five years back was commercially registered last year as a start up. “We approached IIT Mandi with the idea and three months later we were an incorporated company with firs working prototype,” he added.

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