Category Archives: Associations

The industry body ASSOCHAM held a round table discussion on the Revival of the Tourism Sector, attended by industry leaders with the aim to shed light on key focus areas for the revival of the segment, the way forward and how the industry can convert the crisis into an opportunity. Addressing the gathering, Arvind Singh, Tourism Secretary, Government of India, mentioned, “We have to inculcate confidence in the minds of the travellers. The pain points of the travel sector have been discussed. What we are going through is once in a century event, we have seen ups and downs and after every down, there is always an up. We have seen the same in the first wave, where there was a revival after a pushback. We are hearing signs of revival, with people travelling to the hills. We are witnessing the revival again from the second wave of the pandemic in the domestic tourism sector. The ministry of tourism has kept dialogue & doors open with the industry.  A lot of suggestions have come up which we have examined and have taken up with the finance ministry and the other stakeholders” Putting forth his views while presenting how India as a destination can become a leader in the space of Medical Value Tourism C&MD ITDC, G Kamala Vardhana Rao said, “The increasing globalization of healthcare services has led to the rise of medical tourism. India is visited not only for its tradition, enthralling beauty, and delightful diversity but also for its high-end healthcare ecosystem and world-class medical treatment. Over the years, India has become a premier and attractive destination for travellers from across the globe to attain best-in-class clinical treatment, …

Gujarat Tourism recently organised a familiarisation tour for members of IATO and ADTOI associations in Ahmedabad city. Titled ‘Dekho Ahmedabad’ the agents toured the city on a double decker Bus. The tourism board will conduct another fam this month for 24 members to Velavadar that has the Blackbuck National Park.

Sunil Kumar, Immediate Past President of TAAI, has been re-elected as the President of UFTAA at the Annual General Assembly (Virtual) held on 29th June, 2021. UFTAA’s General Assembly unanimously resolved to draw the attention of governments on ‘Vaccine Equity’ related to uniform policy on the corridor of travel formalities The introduction of complex procedures by few governments, in the opinion of UFTAA, can delay the most required turnaround of Travel & Tourism industry to its previous robust levels.

Pradeep Shetty, FHRAI’s Joint Honorary Secretary, has said that while they are happy the disastrous state of affairs of the sector and the plight of millions of workforce employed in the sector have been recognised by the government, the promotion of domestic tourism is the need of the hour. “Therefore, we request the government to incentivise domestic tourism as well,” he says.

The Tamil Nadu government has constituted a 16-member-committee to come up with a revival plan for the tourism sector and suggest COVID-19 SOPs for tourists in the state. Director- Tourism will be the Chairperson of the panel which also includes representatives from TAAI, IATO, TTM, SIHRA, TTTHA, FICCI, CII and South India MICE Association (SIMA).

Reacting on the Finance Minister’s relief measures announcements announcement for the tourism industry, Subhash Goyal, President, Confederation of Tourism Professionals of India said the announcement is ‘too late and too little’. “Already 10 million people in the industry have become jobless and thousands of companies have become bankrupt,” he said.

Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) has requested Arun Singhal, CEO, Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) to extend the timeline to implement the mentioning of FSSAI License number on bills for FBOs on the backdrop of the pandemic’s impact to Hospitality businesses. The association says that it is in favour of the FSSAI’s latest order, which will help set up a robust customer grievance system in the country. “FHRAI appreciates the FSSAI’s endeavour to set up a robust customer grievance system in the country. This will also improve the overall awareness of FSSAI and its underlying objectives of creating a safe and hygienic ecosystem for FBOs. While this is a great initiative, it has to be taken into account that at present, the tourism and hospitality is the most impacted sector by the COVID19 pandemic. In all probabilities, it will be the last one to recover as well. During such times of deep crisis, the implementation of this order would entail a lot of additional expenses on businesses. Printing new receipts, invoices, bills, cash memos as well as updating software and PMS, among other ancillary activities will only burden the cash-strapped industry even more. Hence, we request the FSSAI to extend the timeline for implementation of the order until such time that some normalcy returns to the sector,” says Mr Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, Vice President, FHRAI.

MP Bezbaruah, Secretary-General, Hotel Association of India (HAI), has said that the FM’s announcement on free visas has a very strong symbolic message that we have the confidence to welcome visitors and that tourism and hospitality is a strong pillar of post-Covid economic recovery strategy. “We sincerely hope that such measures will be logically followed by measures to make the industry recover and be ready to welcome tourists. Measures like liquidity support and exemption from statutory taxes. HAI would like to compliment the FM on this initiative and look forward to some more pragmatic initiatives to create jobs and livelihoods through a rejuvenated Tourism and Hospitality industry. As always HAI will be there for a committed role to be played by the Tourism and Hospitality industry in the national economic development programme,” he added.

Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI, has said that it’s a welcome move by the Finance Minister to announce package or relief for the travel agents and the tourism people, especially the tourist guides, who are registered on the MOT website. “However, I still feel that more should have come for the tourism sector, which is really suffering a huge cash flow crunch, seeing low business and are not even looking at any business coming and reviving quickly. I think more needs to be done, as the 10% which will be useful to some of the smallest players, will not go far for the majority. Hence, the industry in general, has not been helped. However, it’s a small light at the end of the tunnel. We are also looking at the ECLGS scheme and we hope that something more will be added to it. In addition, SEIS would be another perspective that would be looked at. Hence, let’s hope there is some more coming and we keep our fingers crossed that whatever they have announced will be distributed easily and doesn’t just remain on paper. We need ease of getting that amount also. Overall it’s a good move and we are looking for more and I hope it’s the beginning to get more respite,” she added.

Pointing out the key role of vaccinations on the road to recovery, Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General, UNWTO said, “There is significant pent-up demand and we see confidence slowly returning.” He also urged governments to ‘improve coordination and communication while making testing easier and more affordable in order to facilitate a travel rebound this summer.