Due to the relaxation in Lockdown, many hotels have resumed their operation, although many small properties had decided remain closed for this season due to the lack of foreign tourist flow in the state, some hotels have begun the operations without taking required permissions from the Tourism Department.
According to the reports, the tourism department has started conducting physical inspections to make sure that all the hotels operating in the state have valid approvals to resume the business, and those find without permissions may have to face the consequences.
D’Souza said the action has been initiated after it was brought to their notice that some hotels are taking bookings illegally.
The director of Tourism Mr. Menino D’Souza has tod the media that they have formed the teams to do the checks on the hotels to make sure that they are operating with valid permissions obtained by them “We will be issuing the show-cause notices to those who failed to take the permission before starting the business,” he said.
Under the Disaster Management Act, which has been in force owing to the pandemic, hotels desiring to resume their activities afresh need to give an undertaking that they will comply with standard operating procedures (SOPs) for hotels issued by the central as well as the state governments. Only such hotels are given permission.
According to the reports, As many as 1,131 hotels have been given permission by the tourism department to resume the operations post unlock down.
It may be recalled that it was the Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar who had brought this to the notice of media that many hotels in Goa accepting the bookings illegally (means without obtaining the permission of the Tourism Department) and he had warned them of strict action. As many as 1,131 hotels have been given permission by the department so far.
D’Souza said the tourism department is required to share data on hotels that have begun with the district collectors. He said no complaints were filed against hotels for flouting SOPs, and in fact, all are enforcing the norms.
Nilesh Shah, president of the travel and tourism association of Goa (TTAG), as well as other hoteliers, had stated that bigger hotels, mostly starred, have been able to sustain themselves as tourists preferred them due to the perception that they (starred hotels) will not compromise on SOPs.
A hotelier said that initially, though they suspected that many would start operations without taking permission from the tourism department, it is not so. “Very few have done it and they are mostly with poor visibility, the smaller hotels. More importantly, hotels are not willing to take the risk when tourists inflow is less,” he said.
He said even medium and small hotels that are in operation are taking precautions against the pandemic.
