Panaji: Every Oct, Goa braces for the usual arrival of charter tourists, hotel bookings, newlywed couples, and lately, the onslaught of negative opinions in the comments section. Having taken a couple of blows over the past two years, this year, the state’s tourism department has decided to go on the offensive.According to an internal note moved by the department, plans are afoot to set up a war room in the state before the season begins. Officially called the ‘centre for online reputation management of Goa tourism’, the department hopes to appoint an agency to set up and run what is, in effect, a social media surveillance operation against “misleading, exaggerated, negative, or unverified content” about Goa.“Public perception of a tourism destination is increasingly shaped through social media platforms, online reviews, digital creators, influencers, blogs, videos, and user-generated content. While such platforms provide wide visibility, they also create reputational risks through misleading, exaggerated, negative or unverified content, which may adversely affect the image of Goa as a tourism destination,” the department’s request for proposal states. The RFP has been issued to select an agency to operate the war room.The mission, if any agency accepts it, is to enable “real-time monitoring of online sentiment, social media chatter, emerging issues, adverse narratives and harmful content”. For nine months, running roughly through the Sep-to-April season, a dedicated team will track X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, travel portals, blogs, and review sites in English, Hindi, Konkani, and Marathi.“The agency shall submit a detailed morning issue brief to the authority every day, preferably before the commencement of office hours, containing key negative news, adverse digital mentions, emerging issues, viral content, influencer-led criticism, online complaints, misinformation, sensitive matters, and reputational risks concerning Goa tourism,” says the department’s document.The timing is hard to call a coincidence. Even as beach occupancy climbs back to healthy numbers this season, the state has spent the past year fending off a fairly consistent volley of bad press.Taxi fares remain the most reliable punching bag with tourists repeatedly complaining of high fares and, at times, harassment from local operators trying to keep app-based cabs like GoaMiles off their turf.Overcrowded beaches, traffic snarls, garbage pileups, and reckless driving by visitors round out the complaints from residents, while tourists themselves gripe about steep hotel tariffs, pricey taxis, and inflated food bills during peak season. Throw in the occasional viral video of a “scam” and it isn’t hard to see why the tourism department wants eyes on the narrative before things go viral.The department’s note states that the empanelled agency will be responsible for “digital listening, sentiment tracking, issue alerts, dashboard reporting, content escalation, response recommendations” and, wherever permissible, the “management or removal of harmful content” on the department’s own channels, all to “safeguard and strengthen brand Goa.”Department officials said that the private agency will not be allowed to fire back on its own. Every clarification, rebuttal or comeback tweet needs sign-off from the tourism department, they said.
