Nods awaited for yoga tours, scuba diving services: Goa Min

Goa tourism department is awaiting permissions for launching services like yoga tours, scuba diving, hop-on-hop-off buses and amphibious vehicles, to provide new tourist attractions to the people, the state Legislative Assembly was told today.

In a written reply, state Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar said new initiatives like yoga tours, scuba diving, hop-on-hop-off buses and amphibious vehicles are awaiting permissions from different authorities.

Goa-based Amphibian Tours Private Limited has won the contract for amphibious buses, while Pune's Prasanna Purple Mobility Solutions Private Limited has been awarded the contract for hop-on-hop-off buses, he said.

Noida-based Flying Fish will introduce scuba diving facility, while state's Mandovi Drydocks will introduce yoga tours, the minister said in his reply. 

Parulekar said the new initiatives are introduced with the objective of providing new tourist attractions to the people (tourists and locals), and unlocking the commercial value of Goa's tourism potential.

It will transform the state into "world-class destination" for adventure-seeking tourists and boost tourism activities in Goa, he said. The minister said Goa will achieve the unique distinction of offering the said services at no cost to the exchequer, and this is expected to attract families and adventure-seeking tourists.

This will result in additional employment opportunities and increase in average duration of stay for both domestic and foreign tourists, he said. 

The state's tourism department recently introduced Hot Air Ballooning and Helicopter Tourism.

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