"Minimum quality standards would be identified for a village interested to be part of the village circuit and get promoted," said Azgaonkar.Speaking about the status of the tourism master plan which is under preparation, Azgaonkar said, the government, so far, has approved three modules as part of the development of the tourism master plan. The consultant has submitted the draft module IV, a tourism policy document, which is being reviewed by the evaluation committee.The tourism minister said village walks/homestays are proposed to be marketed and promoted through the website, mobile applications, key physical point programs, press, publicity and programmatic marketing, customer intelligence/campaigns and integration into a smart tourism destination. Porvorim: Perhaps taking a cue from private enterprise, the state government has taken an initiative to promote homestays in the state.The tourism master plan has proposed a 'village stay' plan under 'Culture and heritage programmes', tourism minister Manohar 'Babu' Azgaonkar told the Goa legislative assembly in a written reply on Tuesday.The elements undertaken for promoting village stays would include identification of village clusters based on "authentic features, with emphasis on maintenance of Goan tradition and culture", Azgaonkar said in reply to a question tabled by Congress Cuncolim MLA Clafacio Dias. The minister said, "The aim is to seek innovative means of financing, such as private participation, corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative of companies, crowd funding".He further added that the objective is also to facilitate hotel chains and multinational organizations to develop model tourist experience villages. It also includes training programmes for local stakeholders enrolling the local population.Asked to explain how it would be beneficial, Azgaonkar said the tourism master plan aims to develop a higher quality and more diversified offer for tourists, while safeguarding and improving tourism and general socio-economic interest of Goan stakeholders.The master plan is hinged on carefully identified key strategies which include building a unique and competitive positioning, diversifying product portfolio and reducing dependence on the North Goa beach belt, improving type of tourist demand and reducing seasonality," said Azgaonkar.
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