While addressing the delegates at the inaugural of the second edition of India Tourism Mart (ITM) jointly organized by Ministry of Tourism and Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) in New Delhi, Prahlad Singh Patel, Union Minister for State for Tourism & Culture (I/C), Government of India said: “This collaboration will increase the trust of tourists. India has diversity in its culture and I appeal to the delegates, they must visit our state stalls in the India Tourism Mart. They will get to know about the beauty of our culture.”
He informed that five demands were placed by the industry stakeholders while he took the charge as Minister for Tourism. However, he considered these demands as ‘need of the hour’ which all has been fulfilled to the satisfaction of the stakeholders.
Elaborating on the recent developments, he informed that the Government has opened 137 mountain peaks for mountaineering and trekking. These peaks are located in the States of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim.
Apart from this, India introduced a flexible e-tourist visa regime based on tourist footfall, with higher fee for July to March which is the peak season and a considerably lower fee if the visit to the country falls during April to June – the lean period.
He extended his gratitude to the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister for the recently announced GST rebates which will benefit the hospitality sector and will go a long way to promote tourism industry. Commenting on this development he said that the reduce GST rates on the hotels will create a favourable environment for future growth in tourism.
While talking about the country, the Minister said: “India is a very beautiful and vibrant country and there has been a definite change in the perception of international tourists due to which we have seen growth in international tourists.”
He invited the participants to freely give their suggestions which will be taken up by the Ministry to help all the stakeholders in the tourism and travel industry.
Elaborating on the recent developments in tourism and hospitality segment (including reducing GST from 28% to 18%) Nakul Anand, Chairman, FAITH said: “We have not seen such enabling policies in the last over three decades which has come over in a matter of two months time.”
FAITH is the apex organization of important trade and hospitality associations of the country and will drive the event, with support of the Ministry of Tourism, with the objective of positioning the tourism destinations and products of the country in international source markets.
This is the second edition of the Mart being organized on lines of major international travel marts held annually in countries across the world. The Mart will provide a platform at the national level for trade and hospitality service providers in the country to interact and conduct business with their counterparts from overseas.
Buyer Delegates from important and potential source markets overseas have been invited to participate in the Mart and over 240 international delegates have confirmed their participation. These delegates are from 51 countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, UK, USA and others.
