The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently announced a Relief package to boost Indian Economy in fight against Covid-19 for Travel and Tourism Stakeholders. The relief package will only benefit 904 Travel & Tourism Stakeholders (TTS) registered with MoT, which is a very small outreach looking at the travel and tourism industry size.
Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), the premier, nodal and largest Travel and Tourism Association in India have been recommending to its members to register with MoT over the years but the process is tedious and requires lot of documentation, which discourages ease of doing business.
A statement from TAAI said, “We had expected that the Government undertakes our suggestions for more direct relief for our member stakeholders, so as to support and encourage overall stakeholder, rather than limiting to 904 Travel & Tourism Stakeholders (TTS) registered with MoT.”
Jyoti Mayal, President TAAI, said, “We expected much more than what was announced. However, we believe the relief has focused more on domestic and inbound travel and only those registered with Ministry of Tourism (904). It is pertinent to note that with over 3000 members of TAAI alone, only those registered with MoT shall benefit. Our members have applied for MoT recognition and due to the pandemic over 200 have still not been approved. Most of the members engaged in Domestic tourism are registered with State Tourisms, with specific concentration to their regions. The outreach of this relief is minuscule.”
Further Jay Bhatia, Vice President, added, “Appreciating that finally the Government recognised our trade activities, but the impact of this relief shall not be overall. Less than 10 per cent of the actual stakeholders only shall benefit as per the FMs package. To widen the scope of this relief, the Hon. FM must include those registered under MSME. We urge the Government, that all TTS registered under GST and who have already been contributing to the exchequer over the years, should be recipients of this relief package.”
In our communication dated May 24, 2021, we had appealed to the Government to ensure employee benefits like PF, Gratuity, Professional Tax, ESIC, etc. are syncronised, so as to do business effectively and smoothly, which shall motivate our member agencies to generate more revenue for our country.
Bettaiah Lokesh, Hon. Secretary General, TAAI, said, “Many of the member agencies are involved in Airline ticketing and Outbound activity apart from servicing domestic and inbound travel and tourism. This being the largest service sector in India, generating over nine per cent to National GDP and employing over 10 per cent of the workforce. We ensure that travel and tourism to and from India is promoted to generate bi-lateral trade around the world.”
Speaking about the recommendations submitted, Shreeram Patel, National Treasurer, TAAI shared, “We had appealed to the Government to grant Income Tax Holiday for our employees as well as member agencies for the next 5years. Further, a moratorium for all our employees and members for 2 years on all their EMI’s / interest was requested.”
The statement from the association further added, “Although the Finance Minister has granted Free One Month Tourist Visas until March 31, 2022 or five Lakh visitors, this shall only be feasible and a win-win, if GST is waived for international tourist and interstate GST credit be permitted for stakeholders, that too when flights commence and we welcome international tourist to India. Our infrastructure, safety and hygiene to handle international tourist due to covid-19 is still not at par with global standards. We await more clarity and acceptance our proposals from the Finance Ministry and Ministry of Tourism.”
