Panaji: Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte on Thursday said that the Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) have been told that not a single hotel which is unregistered with the state tourism department should find place on their platform.
Talking to reporters after inaugurating Goa’s first Airbnb Entrepreneurship Academy near Panaji, Khaunte rubbished the misinformation that tourists are abandoning Goa as their holiday destination.
The minister said that the OTAs have been told that “not a single hotel which is unregistered with the department should find themselves registered under OTA platforms.”
He said that the hotels. Home stays and other tourism related businesses have been provided with the easy compliances of the state government rules.
Khaunte said that despite this, there is challenge to get guest houses which are located in the gates complexes to be registered with the tourism department.
He said that the tourism department has been receiving complaints about such guest houses in the gated complexes on which the action is taken.
Khaunte said that the local bodies like panchayats or societies of the complexes should collaborate with the tourism department and provide information about the illegal guest houses or hotels.
He said that the department has also launched a helpline number which can be dialled to reach out to the department. “We should work together and create a collaborative ecosystem,” he said.
