With the current tourism season drawing to a close, the state tourism department has already begun looking to the future. The department is planning to review the shack policy from the next tourism season due to the misuse of shack licences.

Currently, shack licences are allotted based on a lottery system. With the licence valid only for a year, many of the licencees sublet the shacks, despite this being prohibited by the shack policy as per a report in TOI by Krish Fernandes. 

"We are thinking of revamping the shack policy," tourism director Swapnil Naik told TOI. He said that due to an interim high court order, which found the seniority system discriminatory, the lottery system was implemented. Under the lottery system, even a year's experience was deemed adequate to qualify for the general category.

According to Naik ,since the licences were valid for a season, many new licence winners do not want to invest in setting up a shack as they fear that they will not be able to recover their investment in one season. Hence they sublet it to an experienced shack owner. So the licence goes to a person with experience, but illegally, said Naik. He said a new system would be put in place in consultation with shack owners to prevent this misuse. Many shack owners have been demanding a seniority based allotment system.

Expressing his view on a seniority system, John Lobo, secretary of the Shack Owners Welfare Society, said, "This is what we had been demanding. People with five years or more experience should be given priority while allotting licences and 10% of the shacks licences could be reserved for newcomers."