Government could have done much more: FAITH

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.