Category Archives: Associations

Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, Vice President, Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI), says, “The appeal for further reduction of GST and infrastructure status for hospitality remains still in the wish list.  Neighboring countries continue to have the advantage of a lower GST, while hospitality industry which is a major facilitator of jobs in India remains at a disadvantage. Single window clearances for hospitality projects remain a pipe dream, even as hotels continue to face challenging situations. The only positive lies in allocations to build infrastructure wherein 100 more airports will be developed by 2024, roads will be built and new trains and tracks will facilitate connectivity to tourist destinations, which may help draw in more business.”

Jyoti Mayal, President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), claims that there was nothing great about the budget. She says, “The Government has just increased the allocation for tourism and they are investing in heritage and culture, which is very good. Of course they should be doing that because these monuments need to be maintained. The Government has picked up some states where they will be developing iconic sites. Apart from that there is nothing great about the budget. It’s just that the money has been increased, which is anyways allocated every year. There was no mention of GST for tourism and no corpus created separately for investment, which we had recommended. Overall it was a normal budget with many things done for growth and infrastructure within the country. They are doing good for railways, but not much for the growth of the industry. I am not satisfied.”

Riaz Munshi, President, OTOAI, said that this was a fairly disappointing budget in perspective of outbound tourism from India. Looking at the significant growth in number outbound tourists from in last few years, we expected more from the government apart from relief in GST for outbound tourism. One welcome step to cheer for is the announcement to develop 100 more airports and expected rise in the air fleet to 1200 aircraft by 2024. I think, the increased number of airports in the country will give boost to outbound travel and number of flights to more destinations.

Rajiv Mehra, Vice President, Indian Association of Tour Operators, (IATO), has said it’s encouraging that the Finance Minister spoke at length about tourism this time in the Budget. “She made a number of announcements including a hike in the Budget for tourism promotion by allocating Rs 2500 crore, making 100 more airports operational by 2024 and doubling the aircraft fleet to 1200. Most importantly, I am happy that the government announced more Tejas-like trains to iconic tourist destinations, which has been IATO’s demand and it will certainly boost tourism. The state governments will also have to play a major role in promoting tourism since the Centre will now provide grants if they develop a roadmap and financial plans for certain identified destinations. As far as road connectivity is concerned, which will benefit us, in the long run, is the introduction of the Chennai-Bengaluru and Delhi-Mumbai expressway, which would be ready by 2023,” he adds. 

Subhash Goyal, Secretary General, Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH), has said that they are not very happy with the budget. “We are a little disappointed. The Government could have done many more positive things. The additional allocation of budget for tourism was a great move, along with 550 stations to be provided with Wi-fi. While all these things are good, there has nothing been done about coastal areas. We have 7500km of coastline, and some allocation of funds should have been done for that. Even island tourism or river tourism could be focused on. Most important thing is that foreign airlines should be allowed to operate, open sky policy should be there and ATF price has to be reduced. All these things have to be done to double the number of inbound tourism. This is the way we generate millions of jobs. It’s a good budget for startups and for the people in lower or middle class bracket. But nothing has been done to give a boost to tourism. What we want is that Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) from tourism should be give equal status as physical exports and considered as export of services. Since our services are exported, we need similar benefits from the Government as well. It will give some boost and will certainly double the numbers,” he says.

India will be the sixth strongest source markets for International Visitor Arrivals (IVAs) into Asia Pacific between 2019-2024, according to a forecast by Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). India is predicted to generate IVAs of 6.825mn during this period. The top ten strongest source markets into Asia Pacific between 2019 and 2024 are forecast to include China, the Republic of Korea and Hong Kong SAR in the top three positions, generating a collective volume of more than 369 million IVAs over that period. These three source markets alone are also predicted to generate an additional volume of more than 106 million IVAs into Asia Pacific over the same period. The top group of 11 destinations by strongest IVA increase is likely to account for 77 per cent of the IVA volume into Asia Pacific in 2024. In addition, it is predicted that nine out of 10 destinations will have AAGRs (between 2019 and 2024) in excess of 10 per cent, with India touching an AAGR of 11.5 per cent.

Elaborating on their promotional plans this year, Amaresh Tiwari, Vice Chairman, ICPB said, “This year we are planning our roadshows just before IMEX and then we will be participating there. We will be taking the roadshows to London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and coming back to Frankfurt. We are also planning four domestic roadshows, the details for the same will be made available soon.

The Association of Domestic Tour Operators Of India (ADTOI) has announced its next convention which will take place in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh in the month of April 2020 with the support of MP Tourism, reveals Chetan Gupta, Hony. General Secretary, ADTOI. He says, “The final dates of the convention have not been decided, but it will likely be done in the first week of April. The venue of the convention will be Minto Hall, Bhopal, and other details regarding the same will follow soon.”

The Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) will organise its fifth convention in Turkey from March 15-18, 2020, informed Riaz Munshi, President, OTOAI. He added that the pre-convention tour will be organised from March 12-15, 2020, while post-convention tours will be from March 18-21, 2020. “Preparations are going on in full swing for the convention in Turkey. Apart from the pre and post tours, we are finalising flight travel arrangements and sessions of the convention. Very soon, we will organise an event at the Turkish Embassy with the Ambassador to share more details,” he said. The last OTOAI Convention was held in South Africa in 2018.

Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has launched its new chapter in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The office bearers of the new chapter were unanimously elected and Jose T K from Jose Travels was named the Chairman. Hari Om Jhunjhunwala of Rashi Travels is the Secretary; Mandeep Duggal of Ondigo Travels is the Treasurer, while Shailendra Khare of Network Travels has been named as the Advisor of MP chapter. Present at the launch of the new chapter from national level were Pradeep Lulla, President, TAFI, along with Aditi Bhende, Secretary General, TAFI; Jayesh Tharani, Treasurer, TAFI and Teddy M. Thomas, Joint Treasurer, TAFI. Jose TK said that they will initiate discussion with various airlines to induct a flight to Bangkok from Indore as well as international flight operations from Bhopal & domestic sectors like Surat, Cochin, Pune & Chandigarh from Indore.