TravTalk India Online Magazine
Subhash Goyal, President, Confederation of Tourism Professionals, points out why it is essential to announce e-Tourist Visa and scheduled international flights in the months of September-October.
We have to fulfil our Prime Minister’s dream of making India a $5 trillion economy. Therefore, we need to act now before it is too late.
The tourist season to India is from October to March, and we need to not lose this opportunity
In 2019, India earned `2,10,981 crore in Foreign Exchange
We received more than 10 million tourists in 2019
International tourism accounts for almost 10% of GDP and almost 11% of direct & indirect taxes
Hospitality and tourism industries employ about 58 million people directly and about 75 million people indirectly in India
About 10 million people have either lost their jobs or are on leave without pay
Government-recognised tourist guides, tourist transport operators, tourist taxi drivers pan India, and small tour operators and vendors are starving
We have vaccinated over 350 million people and they should be allowed to travel internationally The only hope for survival is starting of e-tourist visa and scheduled international flights.The whole world is opening up for people who have received both vaccinations or have tested negative. COVID is going to stay and we have to learn to live with it. Just like Africa allows people with Yellow Fever vaccine to travel, similarly, we should allow fully vaccinated tourists to travel to India and Indians to travel abroad to the countries that are open via scheduled flights. The sooner we do this, the sooner it will help our economy revive.This will help save millions of jobs and enable India to further boost its exports and become a global leader.
