Will the Budget look up?

“Tourism has mostly survived on the dynamism of entrepreneurs who have strived to make the industry the second largest in the country today. However, the government does have a big role to play in promoting the industry and giving it that extra push to help make it the largest in the country. As the government gets ready to place the Union Budget, we, the stakeholders in the tourism industry look forward to a positive budget mostly in terms of cutting down of taxes, making GST minimal, increasing investments for promotion and building infrastructure. With taxes getting minimised the industry will receive a big boost to strive forward in generating more employment.” – Tushar Kanti Ghosh, Executive President, Eastern Himalaya Travel and Tour Operators’ Association

“Some of the expectations from the upcoming Budget invlove inbound tourism sector generating foreign exchange reserves should be treated on par with export of services and hence, should be exempted from GST. There is a need for stricter laws and budget allocation for protection of archeological sites and monument; higher budget allocation for Swachh Bharat and better implementation; support for better and adequate tourism infrastructure; more budgetary allocation for provision of tourist police and its effective implementation; stricter laws required for unregulated tourism activities at several tourist spots.” – Bharat Bhushan Atree, India Travel Award winner and Managing Director, Caper Travel Company

“The current tax system is going through a major change by implementation of GST and merging all taxes. However, the implementation and e-filing is not in proper order. It should be more flexible and tax-payee friendly. It would be better to simplify the procedure to get revenue for the country. My expectation from the Finance Ministry this year is that he considers relaxing road tax, give more incentives to tourists, and simplify getting permits. They should lay more emphasis on better accommodation at touristic places, connectivity, hygiene, security, etc. for more inflow of tourists.” – Iqbal Mulla, India Travel Award winner and Chairman, Treasure India

“We are looking forward to reforms supporting the industry. While the government is aggressively marketing brand India globally, it is imperative to focus internally and address issues around taxation, infrastructure and inconsistent regulations imposed by various states to achieve the potential of these industries. We also hope the Union Budget will empower each of the industries to take full advantage of varied opportunities ahead. The industry’s dependence upon technology is growing to improve efficiency, accelerate profitability. We expect Global Distribution Systems to become more deeply embedded across these sectors.” – Dr. Ankur Bhatia, Executive Director, Bird Group

“It will be exciting to watch the first Union Budget post the GST rollout. Much has been in news about the government’s special provisions towards the fast-growing tourism sector in this budget. It can further boost investment and employment opportunities, thus creating more avenues for SME start-ups like ours. I would be happy to see these specific measures apart from general declarations such as further simplification and rationalisation of GST slabs and rates, incentives on digital payments, and lowering of tax slabs in hotels and other tourism-related services within India to boost domestic tourism.” – Shashank S Mishra, India Travel Award winner CEO, Sports Konnect

“I expect the government this year to make substantial budget allocation to update current tourism assets as well as create new ones. It must consider cutting taxes on travel and tourism products, thereby giving impetus to domestic tourism growth. Hopeful, the government will relook at personal income tax slabs as well, so that people have more money to spend and they travel more.” – Haresh Koyande, India Travel Award winner Founder and MD, World Travel Studio

“My expectations from this year’s Budget are very high. However, the top-most relief expected for travel and tourism is reduction of GST so as to compete in global markets. Due to digitalisation and online payments, another major expectation from the Finance Ministry is to seek from the banks a reduction in credit card charges for client payments received to below one per cent. Foreign exchange earnings of all type by travel agents should be treated as exports and GST and income tax should be marginal so that it encourages inflow of business into India.” – Jay Bhatia, India Travel Award winner and Director, Tulsidas Khimji Holidays