Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Goa Blog

Goa Blog

GOA Annual Plan 2010-11 Finalized

Posted: 13 Apr 2010 07:14 AM PDT

Annual Plan of Goa for the year 2010-11 was approved in a meeting, here today, between the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia and the Chief Minister of Goa, Shri Digambar Kamat, here, today. The Annual Plan size was agreed at Rs.2710 crores.

Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Mr Ahluwalia complimented the State for outstanding performance and said that social sector indicators are much better than the national average. He said limited resources have not constrained State's development effort. Appreciable effort has been made to involve private sector in development of infrastructure. He said the State has immense potential in promoting tourism and allied sectors. Besides working for a convention centre of international standard, the State should also develop a good museum. It should encourage private participation in modernization of IT and transport sectors.

He said that increased emphasis was needed to make development more inclusive. Thrust of agriculture and allied areas should be more to as the sectors' contributions to State Domestic product is coming down. Efforts to integrate achievements in science and technology with the development strategy were appreciated.

Speaking at the meeting, the Chief Minister said the thrust will be on development of infrastructure in PPP mode, improve education and health care and also greater emphasis on development of tourism related infrastructure. He said food processing industry would be given priority and Goa Venture Capital Fund would be created in association with leading financial institutions.

He said to promote tourism, the State Government plans to strengthen advance beach management system and security of the tourists to be increased by appointing security guards. He said cruise services between Goa and Mumbai would be started shortly. Green field airport at Mopa would be constructed while the present airport would be upgraded,

The State also plans to set up Mineral Development Fund with a corpus of Rs 500 crore for building and maintenance of road infrastructure in mining areas; Entire resident population would be covered under Swarnjayanti Aarogya Bima-a health insurance cover.

Gourtesy:PTI

Goa to use social networking sites to woo tourists

Posted: 13 Apr 2010 06:11 AM PDT

Goa is looking at social networking websites to salvage its sagging international tourist inflow which has taken a severe beating since last couple of years. Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC), the State government run agency, will now bank on Twitter and Facebook for its image building initiative, officials said.

“This will help us to reach to new clients and also keep in touch with existing guests, who have Goa on their annual holiday calender,” GTDC's spokesman Deepak Narvekar, said. Narvekar added that GTDC would be the first state-run corporation to have its presence on Twitter, a social networking website, which is a buzzword in the cyberspace.

The state, known for its sandy beaches, has been facing a challenge to maintain its foreign tourist inflow after it earned bad repute due to sporadic crimes against the foreigners.

The conservative estimates reveal that the inflow of tourists from UK plummeted all time high last couple of years. The Russian visitors saved the industry from being doomed as their numbers touched 40,000 mark, an industry expert said.

Narvekar said that the social networking websites will compliment the State Tourism Department's initiative to promote the state as a safe destination. GTDC, having a chain of 13 resorts of its own in the state, has decided to disseminate all the possible positive information about the state through these websites.

“We are trying to project the real, positive, image of the state,” Narvekar said. Goa attracts around 24 lakh tourists, of which around three-odd lakh are foreigners who arrive here to soak in the sun.

Courtesy:BS
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