In order to achieve the target of 33 million foreign tourist arrivals by 2024 as proposed in the new draft National Tourism Policy, it is crucial to ensure that the service delivery to the tourist is of international standards. India gets lot of negative publicity due to compromised services provided to foreign tourists by unscrupulous fly-by-night tour operators. We need to strengthen the organised tourism trade.
The incentives and financial support that is extended by government through Ministry of Tourism (MoT) and Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) to the tourism sector should be made available only to the accredited agencies of the Ministry of Tourism, Govt of India (MoT, GoI) adhering to the specified guidelines to ensure delivery of services as promised.
Currently, anyone can become an inbound tour operator and start providing services without any checks and balances. India’s image keeps on getting tarnished when foreign tourists are cheated or fleeced. We see these sort activities happening with operators from the unorganised segment.
There are a few steps which may help in regularising the inbound tour operations in India. These steps will not only discourage fly-by-night operators but will also go a long way in bringing the entire tourism trade to organised fold.
1. An inbound tour operator should have enough professional knowledge as well as financial capital to sustain the business even in case of any exigencies. The defined criteria for recognition has to ensure that process is followed in letter and spirits.
2. The inspection of all tourism entities should be carried out by an authorized professional group appointed by the MoT with the support of the industry associations.
3. Inbound tour operators should be categorised based on their expertise of enterprise, financial capital deployed, market exposure, the number of countries they are dealing with as well as previous year’s foreign exchange earnings. These categories can be Home Based Operators, Boutique Operator, Special Interest Operator, 3-4-5 star operators etc.
4. The SEIS incentive or exemption from GST should only be available to such recognised operators.
5. Only recognised operators should qualify for Marketing Development Assistance (MDA) scheme.
6. All foreign remittances are being monitored by government and banks take full precaution for such remittances. No one other than recognised tour operators be allowed to receive foreign remittances for providing tourism related services in India.
We will not make much of a headway in realizing the proposed five-year FTA and FEE targets set forth in the new draft National Tourism Policy due to discrepancies in implementation of the existing policy framework for tour operators. We all know that the strengthening and widening the organised segment of the inbound trade has many benefits.
By Sarab Jit Singh, MD, Travelite (India), Founder & Former Vice Chairman, FAITH, Former Sr. Vice President, IATO and Founder & Former President, ITTA.
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of T3 and T3 does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
