By Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji
Panaji, Aug 17: From the scenic beaches of Goa to the heritage monuments of Hampi in Karnataka, the tourism players wants to cobble them together to diversify the existing tourism product in Goa.
“The most successful circuit in the country right now is Jaipur-Agra-Delhi golden triangle. The efforts are on to make similar tourism circuit running across Goa-Karnataka and Maharashtra,” Nikhil Desai, Managing Director, Goa Tourism development corporation (GTDC) told reporters here.
“The efforts should be to create mega circuits so that we offer a vast product to the visitors,” he added.
Desai said that the International Travel Mart (ITM) planned in October in Goa will market this circuit to the buyers, who want a variety of product to be offered to the customers.
“We look at Humpi and Badami and couple it with scenic Dandeli and than Goan beaches. All this makes a complete circuit,” he said.
“There are tour operators who already sell Humpi, Dandeli and East of Udupi to the travelers. If they club with our (Goan) packages and sell them that it will strengthen the offering,” Ralf de Souza, former chairman, Travel and tourism association of Goa, said.
Eyeing for more than 150 participants for the ITM in Goa, state tourism director Swapnil Naik said that interaction with the tourism stakeholders will clear the misconceptions about safety of tourists in Goa.
“It’s not what media is trying to portray about Goa. It’s not all bad situation here. Tourism players and tourism boards from across the globe will participate and realise that goa is a place worth seeing often,” Naik said.
ITM organizers expect at least 30 international buyers for this event. “We are also looking at exploring new markets like South Africa,” the director added.
Travelbizmonitor, a media organization, has associated with the state government’s GTDC, in being a knowledge partner for this event.
Naik said that the there is a shift in the pattern of tourists visiting Goa since last couple of years.
“Earlier there were 80 per cent tourists arriving in charter wihle 20 per cent were Free Independent Travelers (FIT). Now the percentage is 50:50,” he stated.