Panaji, July 24 To attract the professionals, especially those in the IT sector, the Goa government has opted to give a push to 'co-working' spaces on the beaches so that the techies can soak in the coastal state's famed sun, sea and sand while working.
The idea, promoted by Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte who also holds charge of the Information Technology portfolio, is to add a fourth 'S' Software to the time-tested Sun-Sea-Sand formula.
According to Khaunte the concept of co-working has taken off in the last few years as an alternative to working from home or at one's office. "It offers flexibility, networking opportunities and for some productivity benefits," he said.
"Goa has become a place for creativity. Creative people are coming here. We need to provide them space. To give support to this creativity, we are coming up with the ambitious concept of co-working spaces on beaches," he said.
He said that a person coming here can work, surf, do water sports, come back and work. '#workation' Goa is going to be the theme. Covid taught us that we can work from home and now we are trying to take this concept ahead for tourists visiting the state.
He stated that these professionals will be high spenders and will help the economy of Goa. "This will help IT eco-system."
The Department has identified a suitable place measuring 3,050 sq. mts to set up a co-working place at Morjim beach in North Goa and the process is on-going for its formal commissioning. Besides this Benaulim beach in South Goa and Miramar beach in North Goa will also have co-working spaces.
According to Khaunte, since the pandemic struck across the world, many companies are allowing their employees to work from home. Hence those who want to work and enjoy their time in Goa can use these spaces.
He said that in 2019, about 71,27,000 domestic tourists arrived in Goa, while 9,31,000 were foreign tourists. But this number dropped in 2020 and 2021 as the pandemic had struck the coastal state. "The number came down to a mere 3 lakh domestic tourists and 32,000 foreign tourists," Khaunte said.
He added that the flow of tourists will now increase and to give them better facilities, the government is trying to implement unique concepts.
"Goa has been witnessing a steady growth in tourist arrivals after the three waves of Covid. In 2022 (from March 2022 to May 2022) 1940683 domestic tourists and 33841 foreign tourists visited Goa," Khaunte said.
Stakeholders from the tourism industry say that this concept would help to attract tourists to Goa as they will be getting facilities to work from here.
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