Amidst the Covid-19 crisis, tourism and hospitality is the one & only sector struggling for its survival since the outbreak of the pandemic. The industry which has lost millions of jobs was desperately hoping that the government will come to its rescue sooner or later; which never happened and those expectations were bowled out one after another.
Whether it was stimulus package, bail-out package or pandemic relief fund, tourism and hospitality sector – one of the prime victims of Covid-19 pandemic was neglected ruthlessly. And, the proposed Union Budget 2022-23 too has been a great disappointment, and left millions of industry stakeholders and their employees to survive on their own, throughout the post pandemic era.
Though the Budget has several announcements for the sector i. e. expansion of the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) by Rs. 50000 crore till 2023, developing eight new ropeways under Parvart Mala project, integrated connectivity between railway stations, e- passports, PM North-East infrastructure, digital rupee, plan for 400 new Vande Bharat, five planned DPR of river systems, one lakh crore additional interest free support etc. are welcoming step.
The industry opines that these announcements certainly will have medium to long term growth implications for tourism growth in India.
However, an industry which is bleeding for last two years and struggling for its survival needs several direct and immediate benefits such as direct wage support to employee of tourism travel and hospitality companies till tourism revival happens.
Furthermore, reducing income tax & GST tax rate, E visa fees waiver for all tourist visas for 2022-2023, roll-back of TCS, adding outbound tours under the LTC scheme, reducing taxes on international airfares, one time grant based on tour operator’s 2019-20 turnover, domestic income tax travel credit for Indian citizens and Indian companies to support domestic retail and domestic mice pickup etc. could be other important aspects for speedy recovery of the industry during post pandemic era.
