Panaji: Goa’s tourism paperwork has quietly achieved something actual airports never want to do: disappear. Printed maps handed out by both the tourism department and India Tourism’s Goa office mark only Dabolim as an international airport, completely ignoring Manohar International Airport at Mopa despite it being, by govt’s own account, central to every connectivity plan the state has.This is not the only instance where the department has been caught napping. The tourism department lists a functioning information counter for tourists at Panaji’s KTC bus stand, but it has been shut for over four years. India Tourism’s map places its own office at Panaji’s Church Square, in the communidade building it vacated some time ago when it shifted to Paryatan Bhavan, Patto.“Govt has spent so much money on events. It cannot update its own maps which it is supposed to offer to tourists,” said Goa Consumer Advocacy Network (Goacan) coordinator Roland Martins, who stumbled upon the maps during a consumer awareness drive.Goacan had flagged the closure of the tourist information office in writing a long time ago, and while the department let the information office remain shut, many tourists have been led to believe that they can find information at the counter.The gaffe has left the department red-faced. Goacan raised the issue with the district collector and the chief secretary.The maps, available at Paryatan Bhavan till this week, also don’t seem to share tourism minister Rohan Khaunte’s ‘Goa beyond Beaches’ enthusiasm. The tourism department’s map completely redraws geography by skipping the hinterland taluka of Dharbandora, the state’s 12th taluka. Khushavati district collector Gurudas Desai has been asked to withdraw this map before Sunday, World Tourism Day.“This is the old map. We are changing it and the new map is going to come soon,” said tourism director Kedar Naik.
