The government should aspire to bring in tourists who bring value addition to the state saying Goa needed to reinvent itself, Secretary, Art and Culture, Tourism and Education Delhi government & former women and child welfare secretary in Goa, Rina Ray said speaking at the state consultation on the Goa Children's Act, 2003.
As per a report in the TOI, Ray recommended stopping of cheap charter flights from UK, Russia and Israel. "Goa needs to reinvent itself to save its tourism industry," warned Ray. "The number of tourists visiting Goa reached a peak in the year the first edition of Iffi was held in Goa and have been on a steady decline ever since," she added.
"Stop catering to the single male tourists, and focus on family tourism," Ray asserted, saying "families bring in much more money than single tourists".
' Sex tourism will bring doom upon state' - Expressing concern over the grave threat posed by child sex tourism, archbishop of Goa and Daman Filipe Neri Ferrao has called for comprehensive legislation and a strong mechanism that will forcefully declare zero tolerance for child sexual abuse.
"The magnitude of an already existing internal problem and the prospect of its escalation to pandemic proportions with the onslaught of sex tourism should make everyone sit up and take serious note," he pointed out.