Goa tourism department on Tuesday held a meeting with a delegation from the tourist guides association, to address the issues concerning foreigners illegally operating businesses in Goa.

The meeting was also attended by representatives of travel agencies from the state, Travel and tourism association of Goa (TTAG) and other tourism stakeholders. John Mascarenhas, a tour guide and a member of the association, said that the department has assured the guides that they will crack down on foreigners running business ventures as well as those foreigners operating as tour guides while on tourist visas. 

The department, which had been criticized for not acting on the issue earlier, has also said it will come down heavily on such operators during the next tourism season, he added.

He said the department had recently taken action against a foreigner acting as a guide following a complaint by the association. Mascarenhas, who is also the South Goa president of the Human Rights Defenders, a NGO based at Reis Magos, which had taken up the issue, said that as per the rules only registered local guides can operate at the world heritage monuments but this was not being followed and foreign guides and touts have been operating at these sites at Old Goa.

He said the archaeological survey of India was not acting on the complaints by the association. The association has around 129 registered tourist guides in the state, of which around 45-55 were actively operating. Mascarenhas said the registered tour guides are trained through a course on operating as guides.

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