Category Archives: MOT

Speaking at the 4th TravTalk Digital Conclave on June 9, 2020, Meenakshi Sharma, Director General, Ministry of Tourism, said that one of the biggest challenges they faced as the government was with the unorganised workforce. She said, “This sector has no structure and they are not part of any regulation. This pandemic has shown us that the way we are doing things is not the best. We need to have more cross collection of data. We should have a structure to deal with the problems without making it regulatory. One thing we must have, and the industry agrees, is to be able to support without having the regulation. In any industry, a lot of engagement with the government comes with its partnership on regulation. This is not good for a sector which is ever-changing.”

Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, has said that after the Government has laid out SOPs for tourism stakeholders, including hotels and restaurants, as well as changing the definition of MSMEs for this sector, the MOT will now be coming up with more detailed operational advisories for tourism stakeholders and states, to ensure that operations happen smoothly and consumers are confident of using their services. “We have been in discussions with the stakeholders and we have been taking inputs regarding what they feel is the right way of starting operations. We shared our inputs when the SOPs were being finalised by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. As the next step, to further give confidence to the state governments and industry stakeholders, we will be further be coming up with detailed operational advisories. These will be more operational advisories to help the stakeholders in ensuring that their operations happen smoothly on one side, and this would also give more confidence to the consumers that our stakeholders would be operating, not only as per SOPs, but would be following very detailed functional operational advisories. Therefore, it should help in building confidence not only among the people who are going to do the business, but also among the people who are going to use the services. We are in the final stages of doing that,” he shared.

While the tourism industry was disappointed with the sector not being mentioned in the stimulus package announced by the finance minister, Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary – Tourism, Government of India, has said that the new definition of MSME, which has removed the differentiation between manufacturing and services sector MSMEs, shall benefit tourism as 70-80% of the sector falls under MSME. “Throughout my tenure, I have been hearing from the industry that 70-80 per cent of the stakeholders in tourism fall under the MSME category. The biggest announcement under Atmanirbhar Bharat programme was pertaining to the MSMEs. Hence, we have clarified to the industry that the biggest announcements are there for them as well. The fact that the differentiation of definition between the manufacturing and the services sector MSME, which has been removed and the caps which have been changed for the services sector MSMEs, like tourism sector MSMEs, shall bring benefits. It’s not just the benefits which have been given, but it also further expands the scope of the tourism industry, to be part of the MSME definition and to take the benefits, which are due under the MSME category of Atmanirbhar Bharat announcements. I believe that the industry has started understanding that because they are now bringing out 1-2 difficult areas wherein the tourism industry may not get the kind of benefits it has been expecting. We are bringing up those difficulties to the appropriate authorities to see if we can resolve them, so that more benefits reach out to the MSME tourism industry,” he said.

The 4th TravTalk Digital Conclave is all set to be held tomorrow, Tuesday, 9th June, with a focus on re-engineering tourism and establishing confidence among travellers. To register, please send an email to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call +9650196532. The three sessions between 10:00 am and 1:30 pm will cover subjects such as a practical vision for the future, managing customer experience, and reducing fears & establishing confidence.

Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C), Tourism & Culture, has said that the guidelines for travellers, monuments, guides, hotels & restaurants, tour operators and other stakeholders will be released in 2-3 days by Ministry of Health, and its expanded form will be released by MOT by 8th June, 2020. The Minister shared the information while addressing members of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT).

The central government has relaxed visa and travel restrictions for certain categories of foreign nationals to allow them to travel to India amid COVID-19  pandemic.  In a notification, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that among those who are allowed to come to India are foreign businessmen on a Business visa, other than on B-3 visa for sports travelling to the country in non-scheduled commercial and chartered flights. Foreign Healthcare professionals, health researchers, engineers and technicians for technical work at Indian health sector facilities, including laboratories and factories are also allowed. This is subject to a letter of invitation from a recognized and registered healthcare facility registered pharmaceutical company or accredited University in India. The above categories of foreign nationals would have to obtain a fresh Business visa or Employment visa, as applicable, from the Indian Missions/ Posts abroad, the statement said. Foreign nationals holding a valid long term multiple entry Business visas [other than B-3 visa for sports] issued by the Indian Missions/Posts abroad would have to get the Business visa re-validated from the Indian Mission/Post concerned. Such foreign nationals would not be permitted to travel to India on the strength of any electronic visa obtained earlier.

Considering the current situation, The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) has decided that validity of approval or certifications of hotels and other accommodation units whose project approvals/reapprovals and classification/reclassification have expired/are likely to expire during the period (24th March-29th June) are deemed to be extended till 30th June. Similarly, MOT has decided to allow six months’ relaxation or extension to all categories of Tour Operators (Inbound, Domestic, Adventure) Travel Agents and Tourist Transport Operators for their approval with the ministry subject to the following conditions: The previous approval expired or the current approval expires during the period of 20th March 2020 (i.e. the date of issuance of an order by the Ministry for discontinuation of inspection work by India Tourism offices) till continuation of lockdown. They applied for renewal before expiry of their current/previous approval. The Ministry has a scheme of approving Travel Agents, Tour Operators, Adventure Tour Operators, Domestic Tour Operators and Tourist Transport Operators etc. the idea being to encourage quality, standard and service in these categories so as to promote Tourism in India. Similarly, MOT classifies hotels under the star rating system to conform to the expected standards for different classes of tourists. Under this system, hotels are given a rating, from One Star to Three Star, Four and Five Star with or without alcohol, Five Star Deluxe, Heritage (Basic), Heritage (Classic), Heritage (Grand), Legacy Vintage (Basic), Legacy Vintage (Classic), Legacy Vintage (Grand) and Apartment Hotels, Homestays, Guest house etc. The classification/ certification is valid for a period of five years.

Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C), Tourism & Culture, Govt. of India, has said that they will be releasing new post-lockdown protocols for accommodation units, so that the clients can feel confident about travelling as well as overall safety. “Our objective is to revive demand as soon as possible. One way we can do this is to help overcome the fear of health while travelling. The ministry will soon be releasing new post-lockdown protocols for accommodation units to give confidence to clients to travel and stay safely. We are also coming out with a set of recommendations for different segments—travel agents, tour operators, transport operators, and facilitators/guides,” he shared in an interview to Hindustan Times.

In a webinar organised by MOT and IATO to address queries related to filling Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) by tourism industry stakeholders, Suman Sharma, ADG, Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), said that she and her team are trying to devise an industry-wise standard list of documents, which can help firms while filing SEIS claims. “The work on the document is almost complete from my end. I will submit the same to DGFT for their approval. It will probably help all the industries including tourism and will help them know what additional documents DGFT needs while they file SEIS and reduce the time of processing their application. Currently, DGFT doesn’t have FAQs specific to SEIS filing and claim procedure. Hence, a lot of travel industry professionals are facing issues with the same.” During the webinar, Rupinder Brar, ADG, MOT inquired about the FAQs looking at the number of queries from the trade and Suman Sharma agreed to do the same to help travel trade. Sharma is also the nodal officer to deal with SEIS claims and issues on tour and travel cases.

In order to give a boost to M!CE Tourism and attract more M!CE events to the country, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has decided to extend the benefits to M!CE organisers in the form of certain incentives under the Champion Sector in Services Scheme (CSSS). For this purpose, a M!CE fund has been set up under CSSS. Under this initiative to encourage M!CE operators to bring more conferences/meetings/seminars to India, they will be entitled to avail certain financial incentives in the form of GST reimbursement. The incentive would be made available for a period of three years. A prior approval from MOT will be required to avail incentives under the scheme along with a NOC from the concerned travel trade association. MOT has made India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB) as the nodal agency for steering and promoting the scheme who in turn would motivate Indian Travel Planners / Societies / Associations towards publicising the scheme.