Tag Archives: ASSOCHAM

The upcoming wedding season starting in November may be impacted by 10-15 per cent, particularly wedding services like marriage garden/marriage hall booking, tent booking, confectionery services, photography and more, reveals industry chamber ASSOCHAM. The GST rate on most of these services has risen from 18 to 28 per cent. Destination wedding or the wedding tourism sector in India which accounts for less than 10 per cent share in the overall industry is not likely to face much adverse impact of GST and demonetisation as it is already a costly affair which mainly lures foreigners, NRIs, rich and famous people for weddings at beaches and royal palaces, says the ASSOCHAM paper. All footwear above Rs.500 is taxed at a whopping 18 per cent. Tax on gold and diamond jewellery has increased from 1.6 per cent to 3 per cent. The booking for a five-star hotel will cost 28 per cent extra in the form of GST. Also, event management service, will have to pay an additional 18 per cent GST on the cost. GST on marriage garden and hall booking is also 18 per cent, same as most other wedding services.

According to a Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) study, Maharashtra has attracted highest investment from private investors in building facilities for tourists and visitors till June 2016. “Maharashtra attracted investments worth over Rs 15,500 crore of the outstanding investments worth over Rs 93,400 crore attracted by the hotel and tourism industry in India as of June 2016,” stated the ‘Domestic Tourism: Tap the Treasure,’ study conducted by ASSOCHAM’s Economic Research Bureau. The study said domestic tourist visits in India can increase from over 143 crore in 2015 to over 227 crore by 2020. While Maharashtra attracted investment proposals worth more than Rs 15,547 crore, Gujarat recorded Rs 13,542 crore, followed by Karnataka (Rs 11,049 crore), Tamil Nadu (Rs 89,26.4 crore) and West Bengal (Rs 8,207 crore) corresponding to 61.3 per cent of the outstanding investments. The remaining 16 states out of the major 21 states received Rs 36,150 crore worth proposals as of June 2016. The report also revealed that these investments would mainly cater to domestic tourists who have multiplied from 6.6 crore in 1991 to 143 crore in 2015. Big tourism projects are expected in the Mumbai-Pune zone, followed by the Konkan, Nashik, Ajanta-Ellora and around tiger reserves in Vidarbha. (Source: Times of India)