Has Goa become too expensive? Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte says airfare, hotel rates...  

Goa Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte recently opened up on the two most pressing issues - taxi mafia and hotel prices - that are believed to be hurting the state's tourism. Earlier this month, the Goa Tourism Department faced a barrage of complaints on social media. Tourists flagged that Goa's costs had escalated so sharply that it was cheaper to travel to international destinations like Bali, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka.

Khaunte explained that hotel tariffs and airfare are inherently tied to supply and demand. "We have two airports, and connectivity is there. But there’s scope to increase the number of airlines, both domestic and international. If that happens, we may have (lower) rates...," Khaunte said while speaking to ANI Editor Smita Prakash.  

On hotel pricing, Khaunte emphasised the government's limited role and said: "As a government, we need to understand we can't curb rates they are driven by market forces. So as they are driven by market forces, tomorrow if the supply is more and demand is less - rates will automatically get rationalised."

Tourists have also blamed local taxi operators for charging higher prices in the absence of app-based services like Ola or Uber. When asked why the state does not have app-based services, Khaunte said: "Tourism thought is very inclusive for us. We have to understand that the shack operations, taxi operations, water sports operations happened legacy-wise with traditional Goans coming into this business. We need to ensure it remains with Goans."

The minister said the challenge is the shift in terms of getting technology. "We do agree that a lot of tourists are commenting on social media, but this is 1 percentage of the tourists who may have met this type of people in that transit of coming into Goa."

Khaunte acknowledged the concerns but stressed that only a small percentage of taxi operators engage in exploitative practices. "I would say that out of every 10 tourist taxi fellows, a couple of them – two or three of them – will have this attitude of fleecing and I agree, and we are working on it. At the same time, the balance seven people have been ambassadors of tourism but nobody wants to highlight that. So negative impacts are always spoken high as compared to positive impacts."