Whither are we bound?

This is a question on everybody’s mind today, one year after COVID hit like a bolt from the blue, says Rajnish Kaistha, Director, Paradise Holidays India. And though everyone is still at a loss as to when normalcy will return, the pandemic’s brutal effects have been a great leveller.

COVID-19 gave us an opportunity to spend quality time with family and pursue new hobbies. I spoke to many industry colleagues and most of them have learned new ways of earning and surviving. In the times to come, this experience shall help the operators positively. Moreover, a forced lockdown gave some much-needed breathing space to Mother Nature and reduced the carbon footprint. But, it is about time we got back to normal tourism activities, however, we don’t need to push.

Let the world get vaccinated, let the fear of COVID diminish in the next few months. Then, slowly and steadily, we should open up by August or September. This will enable us to be ready for the 2021-22 season. We don’t wish to have the Dubai scenario repeated in India.

Businesses across the world have been hit and the worst hit industries have been tourism, hospitality and civil aviation. While the latter two have begun to recover, leisure inbound tourism has yet to begin. Due to the government’s apathy, nothing has come to save tourism. So, what’s the way forward? I have realised that it’s not Ministry of Tourism but various other ministries like finance, revenue, home affairs, etc., that are equally responsible for the welfare of our industry. We need to reach out to the people in various ministries and argue our case convincingly. Where there is a will there is a way! Like the timely vaccination of the masses around the world in a short time, a similar aggressive effort and will can bring tourism back.

Effective overseas marketing with efficient public and private cooperation, and adequate resources are the need of the hour. For tour operators engaged in leisure inbound business, an effective MDA, right policy support, desired importance to tourism as high foreign exchange earner and to be treated on a par with export industry is required. Incentives like SEIS, RoDTEP should be availed through ministry of commerce. We need to convince the government to put tourism on its Concurrent List.

Smaller countries in our neighbourhood get more foreign tourist arrivals. So, we need to achieve 100 per cent growth in the next five to six years once international tourism opens up. This shall not only help the country but also give higher dividends to tour operators and increase the size of our industry. It will uplift the economy of the country manifold due to the multiplier effect on jobs, and kick-start every sector, from infrastructure to handicrafts to agriculture and F&B. If done correctly, post-pandemic recovery can be much faster and can actually help realise government expectations from the sector proposed in the new draft national tourism policy.

We also need to explain to the government about tour pricing. The entire world’s economy has taken a hit and disposable income is low. We have to emphasise on lowering taxes and for tourism exports to be treated on a par with other exports and services. Such transactions may be zero-rated for GST without stopping the flow of input credits.

Tourism services provided to foreign tourists in India on receipt of foreign exchange should be treated as deemed export and exemption of GDY should be made available through SEIS and other means. IATO’s ‘Team Moving Forward’ also hopes to see these demands through.