Today the Centre will organise India’s first lighthouse festival in Goa as part of an effort to promote the country’s lighthouses as tourist attractions, government officials familiar with the matter said.
The Union minister of ports, shipping and waterways Sarbananda Sonowal along with Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant will inaugurate the festival from Goa’s Fort Aguada Lighthouse in Panjim, and participate in a two-hour long session– ‘Vanguards of Our Shores: Lighthouses as Testaments of India’s Past and Present’, said officials.
The session will be hosted by known historian and archaeologist Professor Vasant Shinde, who will speak about the historical significance of lighthouses in India’s maritime history and the development of its ports and port towns.
According to the ministry, this would be a three-day gala event in carnival style with local artists, dance troupes, food and culinary stalls, music concerts and more.
“Three days festival, ending on 25th September, to be celebrated across all the lighthouses in the country in an effort to transform these historic spots as tourist destinations,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry of ports, shipping and waterways, which is the custodian of the country’s lighthouses, is seeking to develop lighthouses into tourist hubs across the country under the ‘Lighthouse Heritage Tourism’ under the PPP model.
A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sector institutions.
As part of the plan, old lighthouses will be given a new life, and 75 lighthouses across the country will be developed into tourist hubs and developed on the lines of those in Europe and America, according to the ministry.
“The minister and secretary are doing a kind of road show to attract investors to develop these lighthouses and also the gala three-day event to attract the general public towards lighthouses as tourism hubs,” the statement from the ministry added.