TravTalk India Online Magazine
Sikkim-based tour operator Prabir Sen, Managing Director of Tibet Tours & Travels, raises pertinent concerns that the trade has been facing – from tourists booking hotels directly to difficulties in availing the various MOT (Ministry of Tourism) schemes introduced for registered travel agents.
A new menace which we are noticing as a tour operator is that all are going directly to the hotels and there is no role of the travel agency and the tour operators. There is no restriction and no awareness from the government side. The MDA scheme was given to the tour operators but the situation didn’t change and they were stranded in the same place. What the MOT has done is very good and helpful, but it is of little help right now. We are definitely getting some financial help via the MDA scheme, but there will not be much changes in the industry. It’s a great help but not a long-lasting solution.
Understanding practicalities
We are headquartered in a small place called Sikkim. So we did not approach the Ministry of Tourism. But I have faced many challenges. I have 60 staff members in my company but I did not fire a single one but kept them on a small salary. We haven’t had any income for the last 15 months. Our main challenge is finance as we have 52 new luxury vehicles in Kolkata which are under EMI.
Regarding the same, nobody could provide us with any solutions or help. Our pre-COVID business record is excellent and I have been part of this industry for the last 21 years. We are authorised by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India as an inbound tour operator and a tourist transport operator. So we are somehow managing ourselves. I have handled a lot of tourists but today we are in a pathetic condition and no one has the ability to understand the situation and how to deal with it. Those who are government service holders will never know how we generate revenue and employment. The biggest travel agencies have sacked their employees but we didn’t.
A banana republic?
No matter how many suggestions we give to the authorities, it will not match the thinking of someone who is handling the business. There is a lack of understanding between those who are developing the MOT schemes after collecting the data and people like us who are facing the ground realities. Unless and until the thinking matches, there can be no valid solution. The need of the hour is more tourism awareness than schemes.
First of all, there is no advertisement from the government, the protocol they are implementing should be published in media. Secondly, the government has many organisations/sectors from where a large number of employees go for a vacation and government should implement the thing at least for the next five years employees from government and semi government sectors should travel only through a recognised tour operator.
Third is the menace of the OTAs. During the tough months of the pandemic, they stopped running their call centres and sacked their employees. Still, the government did not take any action. Many customers didn’t get their refunds. The same thing is happening again. Now the Indian students who are travelling now were stranded at Belgrade and those who booked the tickets via OTAs did not get any kind of help from them. It’s only possible due to there being no tourism regulatory board in India. Everybody is doing as they wish.
In order to ensure that the benefits from the MDA scheme reach every tour operator, the government should establish a tourism regulatory board and ensure that there is no discrimination based on the size of the company.
