Only hotels, guest houses registered with Goa Tourism to be listed on online travel platforms

The Goa Tourism Department said on December 5 that online travel agencies (OTAs) have been told not to list any hotels or guest houses on their platforms that have not been registered with the state tourism department. Talking to reporters after inaugurating Goa’s first Airbnb Entrepreneurship Academy near Panaji, Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte rubbished reports that suggested tourists were abandoning Goa as a holiday destination.

“OTAs have been told that not a single hotel which is unregistered with the department should find itself registered under the OTA platforms,” Khaunte said.

Hotels, homestays and other tourism-related businesses have been provided with easy compliance of state government rules. Despite this, there is a challenge to get guesthouses located in gated complexes registered with the tourism department, he explained. The tourism department has been receiving complaints about such guest houses in gated complexes on which the action has been taken, Khaunte said.

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According to the minister, the local bodies like panchayats or societies of the complexes should collaborate with the tourism department and provide information about the illegal guest houses or hotels.

He said that the department has also launched a helpline number which can be dialled to reach out to the department. “We should work together and create a collaborative ecosystem,” Khaunte said.

Earlier, some tourists had complained of guest houses not being available, when they reached the destination. They were left in the lurch and when they tried to reach out to booking portals, they were unavailable, or did not getany satisfactory response.