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US tourists forced to return to cruise by taxi operators in Goa
Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant and tourism minister Rohan Khaunte have condemned the incident and the state police have said that they are conducting an inquiry into the incident
A group of American tourists, who alighted from the luxury cruise liner Ocean Odyssey during its port of call at Goa on Wednesday, were forced to return to their boat after a group of taxi operators picketed the port’s gate and stopped the buses they were travelling in, people familiar with the matter said.
The Goa police on Friday said that eight members of a local taxi union have been booked tand wo persons have been arrested in connection with the incident and an Investigation is in progress.
“The coaches were stopped by the taxi drivers and their union leaders and they were not allowing us to get the coaches inside. The guests came up walking for one kilometre from the cruise to the coaches (buses) and the taxi drivers picketed the coach and they didn’t allow the guest to get into the coaches. They hit the driver also and told him to get out with the coach and they followed the coach until the airport to see where it was going,” said Francis Vaz, manager of Le Passage to India tour operator who was handling the group of more than 100 American tourists.
Vaz said attempts to negotiate with the taxi unions failed despite the intervention by the police.
“We had to refund the money to the guests plus compensation claims for all this,” he added.
“All these businesses are actually decided nearly one year in advance. We as a tour operator start giving information to the cruise liner which encourages them to come to Goa,” said Deepak Lotlikar, ” another tour operator.
“A common refrain from the taxi operators is that we are taking away their business. A client who has booked the tour with the tour operator, with the excursion operator will never take a taxi. We as a tour operator give a comprehensive tour package,” Lotlikar said, adding that operators arrange for language speaking guides, culinary preferences and theme-based tours, something that tourist taxis will not be able to cater to.
The Goa Police said they are conducting an inquiry into the incident. “08 members of local taxi union have been booked under Section 107 CrPC & FIR has been registered at Mormugao PS. 02 persons have been arrested so far & further Investigation is in progress,” superintendent of police, north Goa, said in a tweet on Friday.
“We are conducting a preliminary inquiry and from the inquiry conducted so far, it appears there was some miscommunication between the taxi operators and the tour operators. If they were to have been told in advance, this would not have arisen,” said superintendent of police (SP) Abhishek Dhania.
“Goa police will not tolerate the harassment of any tourists. Goa is a tourist friendly state and that image needs to be maintained. We will ensure that Goa is safe for tourists at all times,” he added.
Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant and tourism minister Rohan Khaunte condemned the incident.
“Yesterday’s incident in Vasco is absolutely unacceptable. They have to explain their conduct. It is not acceptable at all that somebody will play with the tourism of Goa. As I lay my apologies to the people who suffered, I share my regrets that the people who have done this will not be spared if they do it again. The incident that happened yesterday has rippled very badly throughout the world,” Khaunte said.
“The incident that took place yesterday at Vasco will not be tolerated henceforth. I have called for an inquiry and I’ve heard that the driver was slapped. If that’s true then I’ve asked him to be arrested. Cruise tourism is pre-decided and they follow a planned route,” Sawant said.
Cruise passenger tourists jumped from a mere 1,500 in 2001-02 to 51,000 in 2018 and the services have restarted this year after a two-year gap on account of the Covid-19 pandemic.
