Following the Modi government’s demonetisation drive the concept of the cashless transaction was announced by Indian Defence Minister Mr. Manohar Parrikar while on his visit to Goa. The defense Minister said that Goa will be the first state to go completely cashless by the end of December. The preparations for the same have already been started in Goa by GTDC by putting its first foot ahead in this direction. According to the sources, the Goa Tourism Development Corporation will be the first government organization in Goa to go 100% cashless.
Based on the press note released by the GTDC (Goa Tourism Development Corporation) a premier tourism board in India which has been the forerunner for many new tourism initiatives, products, and services, is today at the forefront of Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi’s ‘cashless India’ mission by 31st December 2016. Goa Tourism Development Corporation has already taken the lead bringing all tourism business’ under the ambit of cashless transactions.
All the tourism related services in the state including the hotel reservations, package tours, cruise rides and all other tourism related services will be transformed into the cashless translation with the help of system introduced by the GTDC that will facilitate cashless transactions, both on-line and off-line.
The web portal of GTDC and its mobile application will promote the cashless facility for all types of bookings for the tourists. The sources have revealed that the GTDC mobile app is available on iOS and Android platforms. All the GTDC residencies across Goa will have the POS (Point of Sale) machines installed making it possible cashless transactions throughout. The GTDC is also working to introduce pay wallets and talks are underway with leading pay wallet providers so that pay wallets can be accepted as another mode of cashless payments, said the sources.
The sources in GTDC have revealed that the Santa Monica Jetty will also accept the payments through credit cards and debit cards. To further this process, the launch of the new e-commerce portal and mobile app in February this year has provided a full proof platform for e-business and cashless transactions also bringing other tourism stakeholders into the cashless circuit. Official records from the GTDC revealed that cashless transactions to the tune of Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh are executed daily on daily basis for various services provided by the GTDC which is in addition to cashless transactions recorded on GTDC’s e-commerce portal and mobile app.
Gavin Dias, the General Manager(Hotels) at GTDC said that “All GTDC residencies are provided with point-of-sale (POS) machines to facilitate cashless payments and most tourists prefer to use this facility. It is encouraging to see tourists opting for cashless transactions.” Mr. Dias added that in the months to come GTDC’s cashless systems will be an exemplary one for other departments to emulate.
Mr. Dias further said that “In addition to cashless business for GTDC’s hotel accommodation, GTDC through the e-commerce portal has direct tie-ups with more than 160 hotels and also has tie-ups with channel managers like Staah and Maximojo for tourists to book accommodation using cashless modes of transactions. He further added that cashless transactions have already become very popular and an easy way out for both tourists and tourism stakeholders.
According to the sources in GTDC, Goa attracts more than 5 million tourists annually and Goa Tourism and GTDC is eventually looking at bringing in every tourism stakeholder whether tourist taxis, souvenir shops, guest houses, restaurants etc under cashless business.
Mr. Nilesh Cabral, Chairman of Goa Tourism Development Corporation said, “Goa Tourism Development Corporation moves ahead of time and we have one more feather in our cap. I am extremely pleased that GTDC introduced cashless transactions several months ago. Today the world has already logged into cashless processes and India would have eventually introduced the same. GTDC has succeeded in professionalizing the services through cashless systems and we are fully geared to deal with it post 31st December 2016.”
