Goa likely to get tourists from US

Panaji, Jan 13 (PTI) Goa now can look forward to touristsfrom America descending on its beaches with Atlanta-basedAsian American Hotel Owners Association showing keen interestin promoting tourism here.

A delegation of the association met tourism industryplayers and policy makers in Goa assuring their full supportin promotion of tourism here, a spokesman for the stategovernment said.

The 34 member delegation also met Goa chief ministerDigamber Kamat during their two day visit that culminated onWednesday.

Atlanta-based Lords Inn Hotels� executive directorPushpendra Bansal told reporters here that there is a hugeopportunity in store to get tourists from America to Goabecause 90 per cent of the chartered flights arriving in Indialand in this state.

He said that the hospitable nature of the people willalso be an addition to get the outbound tourists from the USto visit Goa.

Along with the tourism, few of the representatives alsoshowed interest in investing in entertainment sector of thestate.

"I am keen on partnering with local associates or workingon a PPP model to create entertainment complexes in Goa.

Water or theme parks, indoor roller skating and ice skatingrinks, bowling allies, malls, spas and movie theatres areareas which are of interest to me," Shiv Aggarwal, presidentand CEO of the American Management Services, said.

American Management Services was responsible for settingup the first South Asian mall in the US. .

The association which paid visit to various places and held discussion with the tourism industry stakeholdersrepresents 10,000 members owning more than 20,000 hotelsacross the US.

The association chairman C K Patel stated that since mostof their members were Indians, they were proud to invest backin the country.

"Over the last five years, we have opened dialogues withRajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Karnataka. Ourmembers have set up 14 projects in these states so far. Thisyear we travelled to Goa to explore opportunities within theregion," he said.