The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) – Goa Council, has said that the state needs a comprehensive roadmap that focusses on infrastructure creation, skill development, employment generation and standardisation in nautical tourism. CII-Goa, in a report submitted to the outgoing government, said that the state also needs sustainable environment policies to govern nautical tourism. The CII-Goa panel on tourism listed a set of recommendations that could help diversify its tourism and harness the revenue and employment potential of nautical tourism.
Hemant Arondekar, Convener, CII’s panel on tourism, briefed Tourism Secretary J Ashok Kumar, who agreed with the panel’s recommendations. “The report presented various recommendations which CII-Goa aims to pursue with the state and the Centre so that the sunrise sector of nautical tourism can trulytransform Goa’s tourism sector,” said Arondekar. He further stated that Goa needs a boat docking facility with some basic infrastructure for refuelling, minor repairs and replenishment of supplies to benefit the yacht owners and operators.
CII-Goa pointed out that most pleasure-boats and yachts currently operate from floating jetties which are small and can be unsafe. Goa has a wide scope of maritime tourism activities ranging from traditional fishing to international cruise vessels.
Given that inland waterways is a state subject, the Centre and the Goa government need to adopt uniform rules and regulations that make it simpler to operate pleasure boats
