By Michael Fisher
PANAJI:  The tourism industry in facing a challenging year ahead due to poor brand building, lack of a proper advertisement campaign, and allegedly a strong link between corruption and the system, a section of tourism sources opined. None of this will come as any surprise to most Goans, they said.

A top tourism official said that foreign tourist arrivals (FTA) in Goa were barely 3.8 lakh last year as compared to an all-India FTA of 55 lakh, which is hardly seven
per cent.
The Goa Tourism director and managing director of Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC), Mr Nikhil Desai told ‘The Navhind Times’, on the eve of his holiday, “wish we could tap at least 10 per cent of that market.”
Mr Desai further said quality international tourists are gradually shifting its preference for new destinations, from Europe and North America to South Asia. The recent Berlin Travel Fair was an eye opener, he said adding smaller countries around India had an extensive brand building programme, attracting a larger crowd to their marquee, which Goa lacked at the
travel fair.
Goa being one of the major South Asian tourist destinations, with the diversity of natural attractions and rich tapestry of cultural heritage woven into a range of tourism products, can certainly expect to exploit this trend in its favour, he opined.
“But our tourism operators may continue to face myriad challenges through the end of this year and into the next if they do not counter emerging markets such as Sri Lanka and neighbouing states,” Mr Desai said.
“Goa has only beaches and it is high time we start working on our tourism development plans. It’s time we hasten and develop areas of interest in hinterland, Mayem and smaller lakes and some villages which fall into the Western Ghats calling for adventure tourism. GTDC will soon float expression of interest on a partnership basis to start work on these projects,” the Goa Tourism director said.
“We have started focusing on new markets like US, Japan apart from countries in Europe and central European countries. We are in the process of introducing posters and hoardings campaign in July on a pan-India level for the monsoon season. The GTDC’s revamped website loaded with information is receiving 3000 hits a day from 140 countries. Based on the most hits, that country will attract Goa campaign and advertisements,”
he informed.
“We intend to concentrate on emerging markets in Finland, Luxemburg and Singapore, and keep a close watch at these economies and will soon organise road shows there. The Rs 950 crore tourism budget is inadequate and we are hoping for a 10 per cent increase to meet our developments,” Mr Desai remarked.
“We should aim for a target — say 5 lakh tourists arrivals in the coming season and then aim for half a million. If Singapore with a population of 2.7 million can attract 20 million tourists, why not we?” he enthused.
There is also a phenomenal explosion of domestic tourism which is a by-product of what Goa has achieved during the past years.
India’s bureaucracy is ‘the most stifling in the world,’ the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy reported on the BBC website. One consequence, it believes, is that the inertia generated by a stifling bureaucratic system will, in the medium term, prevent India from matching towards the growth rates of its great Asian rival China.