Goa set to bring in new policy for heritage houses

Tourism department will introduce a new heritage policy within the next few months to encourage owners of those houses to repair and convert their properties into tourist accommodations. Though there was a scheme which was notified several years ago, it was a failure, tourism minister Rohan Khaunte said.

Due to the certain Elements people were unable to take benefits of that scheme, he said. The tourism department will remove the hurdles and come up with a new policy, the minister said.

A lot of efforts have been put in the last one year to elevate Goa as a tourism destination and the results will be seen this year, though more needs to be done, he added.

While the hop on – hop off buses are ready to be launched, the tourism department is also looking at exploring and introducing new tourism Services.
Some of the services announced a few years, did not take off, but Khaunte said he has told an empowered committee to explore what kind of new services can be launched.

Five years ago, the tourism department launched an amphibian bus service vehicles that operate on land and sea to showcase back waters and interior parts of Goa. A service provider was selected, and two buses were procured, but the tourism department was not able to run the service due to lack of permission from the transport department.