Rajan Sehgal, Chairman, TAAI Northern Chapter, feels that for the next few months, it will be a big problem for domestic tourism as people use cash transactions for everything from staying, to eating and sight-seeing. “Foreign tourists also are facing a challenge in paying for basic needs like food as well as reports have also come from many places about people being denied entry in the monuments as they do not have the required cash. Foreign tourists who are in the middle of their journey in India and have already exchanged money, have no idea what they need to do with the cash they have as most of it is in denominations of 1000 and 500. Another big problem for us is that all the embassies and VFS centres do not take cheques or credit cards. They only take demand drafts, which is a longer process or they accept cash, which is posing as a big problem today. We are in talks with them and hoping for a positive outcome.”

Sarabjit Singh, Vice Chairman, FAITH, reveals that tour operators are facing problems everywhere they need to pay higher amount, especially at interstate tolls, which has now been relaxed till Nov 11. “The denominations for 50 and 100 is not available in large numbers as of now. Paying monument fee turned out to be a big problem for tourists. Jaipur has made the entry complimentary for the monuments, and the same should be followed at other places. Either there should be alternate arrangements to deal with this problem, or there should be some relaxation until normalcy returns,” he adds.

E.M. Najeeb, Chairman, IATO Southern Region, and Chairman & Managing Director, Air Travel Enterprises Group of Companies (ATE), says the decision has badly hit tourists today as thousands of tourists who are in India cannot pay in restaurants, do shopping, or pay for local purchases. “Apart from the stay, which is pre-paid, they can’t do anything else with the foreign exchange they have already taken. People are facing great hardships, queuing up at petrol pumps, there was not enough change at railway stations despite them accepting the 500 and 1000 bills. The government’s step to curtail black money is much appreciated, but I think it should have been better managed and the steps taken by the government shouldn’t have affected the normal people so much. We also have our hospitals and since the concession of accepting the larger denominations is only in government hospitals, private hospitals like us had to treat people for free.

Debjit Dutta, Chairman, IATO Eastern Chapter and Founder & CEO, Impression Tourism Services, says this bold move has definitely caused an inconvenience for travellers. “Foreign tourists who have recently exchanged money are now facing several problems even to buy food and shop since they are on holiday. Since we are tour operators, our business runs mostly on cash payments so it has hindered business as well. I feel that some facility should have been in place keeping in mind the number of tourists that are affected with this change – such turn of events might just lead them to have a bad impression of the country and go back with the same thing in mind,” he adds.

Lally Matthews, Hon. Secretary, IATO, says even though its a bold move by the PM, there are some immediate problems. “We are seeing that the clients who are travelling in India are facing a problem in paying the monument fee at the counters. There have been instances at the Taj Mahal as big notes are not being accepted at the counters and tourists are coming back without visiting it. The drivers are unable to pay road taxes and inter-state taxes owing to the same problem. Tourists who have already exchanged money can’t use the money they have in hand and can’t even take the new currency from banks. There are problems for tourist vehicles to pay at petrol pumps. Apart from that, foreign tourists staying in hotels are unable to pay by cash for any services, and the same problem they are facing at restaurants as well. There are also reports that some hotels are even charging 10 per cent extra if a tourist is paying by card,” he concluded.

The travel market has come to a standstill after the scrapping of the 500 and 1000 currency bills, says Guldeep Singh Sahni, President, OTOAI. “Most of our dealings usually happen in cash as not many people use credit cards. However, ever since the announcement, we are not accepting cash from anyone. People can buy the ticket from airport, but not from the travel agent. When a travel agent starts the booking for a tour, there is some advance needed. We can’t take that from the client as of now, and I think this would continue till things become normal, with the new currency flowing in the market,” he added.

With a view to curb Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) and eliminating black money, the government has decided to cancel the legal tender character of the high denomination bank notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 denominations issued by RBI till now, with effect from November 9, 2016. Tourism Breaking News finds out from industry leaders how this unexpected drive will affect the travel and tourism trade.

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) will assist the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) team for the Ajanta Ellora conservation and Tourism Development Project Phase II. JICA India office (JICA, New Delhi) had recently send a letter to Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation regarding the external evaluation of the JICA ID – P150 ( i.e. AEDP – Phase II project). The JICA team will visit the sites between November 27, 2016, and December 24, 2016. Following the visit, studies will continue for almost one year, i.e. up to October 2017. Various respected diverse agencies have also assigned to complete the allocated components which include Central Government agencies such as ASI, AAI along with MTDC and other State Government Institutions, etc. Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation and its branches have completed the assigned components given of the projects (for example, Ajanta Visitor Center and Ellora Visitor Center was completed by work branch of MTDC, Public Awareness by Publicity branch, HRD by Development Branch and IT related work by IT branch).  MTDC has further requested its respective officer to note the tour program and assist JICA team. Satish Soni, Joint Managing Director of Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation stated, “The Ajanta and Ellora Caves are UNESCO World Heritage Sites located in the Aurangabad district in the state of Maharashtra, approximately 400 km northeast of Mumbai.  The Ajanta-Ellora Conservation and Tourism Development Project was initiated in 1992 and Phase I was initiated in March 1993. Phase I was successfully completed in 2004 and phase II was completed in-between year 2004 to 2017. Now external evaluation of phase II will take place in the year 2016 – 2017. Our aim is to conserve the cultural heritage and its surrounding environment, …

The Thai Government has lifted the 30-day restriction on public entertainment and festivities, informs the Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB). Now entertainment venues, musical, theatrical and festive celebrations will resume operations as normal. This allows all business events and festival events to proceed as usual. However, business travellers are invited to respect the traditions of mourning and to act and dress appropriately during this time. Accordingly TCEB has advised all business travellers to Thailand to continue with their travel plans as normal, and to recheck programmes in case of changes.

Booking.com has announced the initial test pilot of Booking.com for travel agents, the first iteration of a new platform designed specifically with the unique needs of travel agents in mind. The platform features a suite of easy-to-use tools that empower travel industry professionals to seamlessly make and manage accommodation reservations for their clients via Booking.com. “We’ve seen increasing numbers of travel agents using Booking.com to manage bookings for their customers,” said Bryan Batista, Senior Director of Global Partnerships at Booking.com. “We’re pleased to now offer professional travel agents a platform and a programme that has been created just for them, with the special features they need to easily book and manage reservations for their clients, as well as the choice, diversity and seamless experience that they’ve come to love and rely on from Booking.com.” Booking.com for Travel Agents is an extension of the company’s existing Affiliate Partner Programme and leverages technology and infrastructure being developed for Booking.com for Business. Travel Agents who join the platform will be eligible for similar partner benefits as all Booking.com affiliate partners.