Goa mandates OTAs to list only registered hotels and guest houses

Panaji, Dec 5 (PTI) The Goa government on Thursday said online travel agencies (OTAs) have been told that any hotel, which has not been registered with the state tourism department, should not find a place on their platform.

Talking to reporters after inaugurating Goa's first Airbnb Entrepreneurship Academy near Panaji, Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte rubbished as "misleading" the information that tourists were abandoning Goa as their 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," he said.

Hotels, homestays and other tourism-related businesses have been provided with easy compliance of the state government rules. Despite this, there is a challenge to get guesthouses located in gated complexes registered with the tourism department, he said.

The tourism department has been receiving complaints about such guest houses in the gated complexes on which the action has been taken, Khaunte said.

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. PTI