Need for a common voice

Sarabjit Singh, Managing Director, Travelite (India), has recently stepped down as Vice Chairman, FAITH. After working in the industry for many years, Singh believes that different ministries who have anything to do with tourism should work together to improve India’s tourism ranking in the world.

I started my journey in the travel industry in 1971, when I joined my father’s ‘Karachi Taxi Company’, also known as KTC Private Limited, which is the largest transport company in India. We started our inbound tourist company in 1979, called Travelite India. At that time, things were not favourable in the transport and tourism segment, because of which I started collecting all tourist transport operators together and in 1987, we formed the Indian Tourist Transporters Association. I have been associated with it since its inception until May this year. After a few years, I joined IATO and have served as Senior Vice President for two terms.

It was at IATO where we decided that a common voice was required from the industry, a thought reciprocated by the Ministry of Tourism as well. In 2012, we formalised Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH), and I became the first Vice Chairman for the same before my term got over this year. In 30 years, I have had a number of opportunities to meet with government at all levels, be it Ministry of Tourism, Commerce, Finance, Shipping, Transport and I&B. Also, I have interacted with state governments and had the opportunity to visit the PM’s office and take up issues related to tourism. However, over the years I have seen that things are almost same and haven’t moved much for the industry.

Many issues are plaguing the industry currently. From the government’s end, there was no senior officer posted for three-four years at overseas offices. The absence of an Incredible India campaign in the last three years resulted in things getting negative for India in terms of tourism. We might be getting some increase in the net tourism results, but its potential is a lot more. India is recording only 9 million foreign tourist arrivals when it should have been a minimum 30-35 million tourist arrivals, and FEE should be 40-45 billion dollars instead of 20-21 billion dollars today. It’s important that the MOT work in sync with the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Shipping, Ministry of External Affairs and other ministries required to contribute to tourism growth.

One of the major problems is taxes imposed by the government. Currently, there is no tax on export of goods. Even today under GST, if some exporter has paid any tax, it is being refunded to them. But when we talk about tourism exports, we are given exporters’ benefits and are considered as exporters by Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Finance. However, in terms of taxes on tourism products, we are charged about 22-33 per cent tax, which the foreigner pays, and this is how we are turning away tourists from coming to India from other countries.

It is imperative that the ministries focus on issues taking a broader picture. There are four-five tourism circuits which the government should take into consideration so as to achieve full development. This is only possible if all the ministries work towards a common cause so that growth can be attained in the right direction.

(The views expressed are solely of the author. The publication may or may not subscribe to the same.)