Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO, shared that there was again no focus on tourism in Union Budget 2019-20, except that the government re-emphasised on 17 iconic sites being developed into world-class tourist destinations, which has been taken forward from the last Budget. “However, we welcome the mentioning of simplifying of GST process and absorbing of charges on digital transactions, which will encourage digital transactions. We also welcome the government’s plan to restructure the national highways programme to create a network of highways for better connectivity, upgradation of 125,000 km of roads in next 5 years at a cost of 802.5 billion rupee, more focus on Swachh Bharat mission and expansion of Railway suburban networks which will boost tourism as with increased infrastructure, better road connectivity and clean India, foreign tourists will be attracted.” He added, “We have been requesting the Government  for rationalizing of GST on tourism and hospitality, exemption of GST on foreign exchange earnings by the tour operators and treating tourism industry as deemed exporters and extending all benefits to the tourism industry as are being given to physical exports of goods and reduction, in Tourists Visa Fee so that we can compete with our neighbouring countries on foreign tourists arrivals, which will not only help bring in more foreign exchange but also create new jobs. However, this all remains pending and we hope our requests will be considered by the GST Council and Finance Ministry will consider the importance of tourism industry in employment generation and contribution in economic growth of the country.”

Sharing his views on the Union Budget, Subhash Goyal, Secretary General, FAITH, said, “As far as the Budget is concerned, there are very few things for tourism in it. One thing for the industry is inland waterways, which can also be used for tourism and second is development of iconic sites. Thirdly, the Government has again focused on aviation as well as on tax reduction for SMEs. However, overall there is no indication of any relief. The GST council might do something later, but nothing has been done for taxation on tourism to be five per cent and exemption on foreign exchange earnings. Overall, we are a little disappointed with the Budget. We still have to read the fine print, although from what we have seen, there are certain things regarding water and infrastructure, which are good. If they give infrastructure status to hotels and tour operators, it will be very good. What I don’t understand is to create employment, and the industry which gives the largest employment has not been given anything.”

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the Union Budget today, where she shared that the Government will take steps to hike FDI cap in aviation. She also said that India will enter aircraft financing and leasing activities. For tourism, it was announced that the Government will build 17 iconic sites to encourage arrival of tourists in India. It was also mentioned that the GST process will be simplified. A massive railways modernisation programme will also be launched this year. Apart from that, the government will undertake strategic divestment of Air India and other PSUs this fiscal. They will also work towards consolidating non-finance central PSUs via mergers and raise foreign shareholding till maximum limit in PSUs. Government has set ₹1.05 lakh crore divestment target for Financial Year 2020. Government has decided to open Indian embassies and high commissions in countries where India doesn’t have a resident diplomatic mission, and under this scheme it has approved opening of 18 new embassies in Africa and will open four new embassies in 2019. Other highlights of the budget include—125,000 km of road to be upgraded over next 5 years at a cost of 802.5 billion rupees; expansion of Swachh Bharat mission to undertake sustainable sold waste management in every village; making of PAN card and Aadhar card interchangeable for ease of taxpayers.

According to the HVS ANAROCK India Hospitality Review 2018, revealed that over 2016 and 2017, new hotel signings in the country remained in the region of ~170 signings, but in 2018, the industry set a record with signing of 201 hotels containing 19,128 keys, signalling a strong growth in investor sentiment. The branded hotel sector comprises of a collection of around 50 hotel companies, each actively competing to find mind share with hotel owners & developers, who are further looking to either convert or build a new property.

The recently released global passenger traffic results for May by The International Air Transport Association (IATA), revealed that after a fall in domestic RPKs in April (down 2.0 per cent YoY), following the demise of Jet Airways, growth in the India market rebounded sharply in May, with RPKs now an even 6.0 per cent higher than a year ago. While it will take some time for the market to adjust to the recent shock, the longer-term outlook for domestic India traffic remains positive.

According to statistics from the Railway Yearbook, the The Indian Railways has contributed immensely to the growth of tourism in India and is among the world’s fourth largest railway network. During 2017-18, the Indian Railways has carried 8,286 million passengers as against 8,116 million in 2016-17. In 2015-16, this figure was 8107 million.

A recent whitepaper titled ‘Indian Tourism Infrastructure- Investment Opportunities & Challenges’ released by FICCI, reveals that employment generated through in 2017-18 was 81.1 million, which was almost 5 million more than what it was in 2016-17 (75.90 million). In 2015-16 employment created by tourism was 72.3 million, which was 69.5 million and 67.2 million in 2014-15 and 2013-14 respectively. The reports used data released by Ministry of Tourism (MOT), which was based on Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), which comprises of a set of 10 standard tables which are key to estimating the economic contribution of tourism in the economy. According to 3rd TSA, the share in employment generated by tourism increased from 12.19 in 2016-17 to 12.38 in 2017-18.

In an effort to ease the woes of tourists, the Ministry of Tourism is planning to launch a Twitter-based grievance redressal mechanism for tourists to file their complaints in real time. The ministry wants to replicate the External Affairs Ministry’s Twitter Seva Service, which was launched in 2016 with an aim to centralise and expedite its grievance redressal mechanism. Tourism Minister Prahlad Patel had a meeting with officials of Twitter this week and requested them to create a dedicated mechanism. The ministry is also likely to create a dedicated cell to address the issues raised by tourists on the handle so that they can be resolved within a given time frame. Union ministries such as the railways receive a lot of complaints from passengers on their Twitter handle and these are addressed by the divisional railway managers concerned as well as the public relation officers. It’s been said that Twitter has advised the ministry to first create a cell comprising personnel from the ministry. Currently, tourists can register their grievances on a 24×7 toll-free multi-lingual tourist helpline.

The Netherlands and Canada has announced the launch of a pilot project for paperless travel between the two countries. Identity data that is usually stored on a chip on a passenger’s passport will instead be securely stored and encrypted on their mobile device. Passengers flying from Montreal to Amsterdam will be able to manage their encrypted identity data, consenting to share it with border authorities, airlines and others. It would be checked against biometrics at security checkpoints and airplane boarding gates “without the need for a physical passport,” said a statement by the World Economic Forum, which is leading the initiative. The Traveller Digital Identity project is to be tested internally throughout 2019, with the first end-to-end paperless journey expected to take place in early 2020, it said. “By 2030, international air travel is expected to rise to 1.8 billion passengers, up 50 per cent from 2016. With current systems, airports cannot keep up,” the World Economic Forum’s mobility chief Christoph Wolff said. This project offers a solution. By using interoperable digital identities, passengers benefit from a holistic system for secure and seamless travel. It will shape the future of aviation and security.” Air Canada and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, as well as airports in Montreal, Toronto and Amsterdam are taking part in the pilot, backed by technology companies Accenture, Vision Box and Idemia

Spain Tourism recorded 6.7 per cent growth in Indian arrivals in the first quarter of 2019, revealed Miguel Nieto-Sandoval, Tourism Counsellor (Gulf Region), Spain Tourism. Sharing details, he said, “India is an important market for us and we are hoping that we will grow more in this market. In 2016, we had 106,000 visitors from India and then we grew to 150,000 arrivals. In 2018 , we reached 206,000 arrivals from India and this year we expect to increase it further.”