Tag Archives: FAITH

The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) held a virtual conference with the tourism and hospitality sector associations of the industry recently, which was led by Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary Tourism, MOT, along with senior officials of the Ministry. The Associations represented through remote conferencing were FAITH, CII, FICCI, PHDCCI and IMAI. The industry put forth a number of ideas and suggestions for tiding over the crisis created by COVID-19 in the sector of tourism and hospitality. The Ministry on its part shared the concerns and assured the associations that the government is very much with them in this grim hour and that they would work towards the suggestions put forth. There would be a lot of thrust on promoting domestic tourism was a common takeaway. MOT is using its social handles to create awareness of the need to stay at home safe in the period of lockdown and prepare to travel once the world opens up. In the meantime, the course modules of the Institutes of Hotel Management are being held online and faculty and students are using technology to remain abreast with their course curriculum.

Addressing concerns from member agencies regarding refunds/credits from airlines/ IATA due to the impact of Covid2019 as customers are demanding refunds from travel agents, TAAI has said, “With reference to the unilateral decision of the airlines to give credit notes and no cash refunds, we have made it very clear to all concerned that, cash refunds are required due to the global pandemic situation. It is the right of the passenger to get back his amount paid in stipulated time. Cancellation charges shall not be borne by the traveller due to the cancellation of flights/ lockdown situations/ banning of flights by government of India as well as of other countries, etc.” In an official statement by TAAI to its members, it was written, “We are in daily communications with the Indian Prime Minister’s office(PMO), Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Ministry of Tourism (MOT), Ministry of Finance (MoF), Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI), Niti Aayog, IATA Global Head Quarters, IATA-India, all airlines individually including Low Cost airlines in India. We are working in support with, all associations of travel, tourism & hospitality trade under UFTAA, FAITH, CII and other leading trade bodies. Our concerns have been voiced not only in our communications but also in mainline media being TV channels & newspapers, trade media as well as social media.” The TAAI team urged its members to be patient, claiming that the as Govt. of India, is prioritising the requests of citizens, industries, trade, travellers, etc. and are actioning to the best of their abilities, with timelines. “Their main objective right now is to ensure the health safety of all persons and providing proper medical …

Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) concluded its first online members’ meet on March 31, which was attended by close to 100 members from across the country, including Kerala, Assam, Ladakh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The meeting, moderated by Capt. Swadesh Kumar, President, ATOAI and Vinayak Koul, Hony. Secretary, ATOAI, helped members and the Association share constructive ideas to survive in present times. Members also got a chance to share their experiences. The keynote speaker for the meeting, Nakul Anand, Chairman, FAITH, briefed members on various topics related to the COVID-19 crisis and explained that the strategy going forward should broadly be divided in two phases – phase-I being survival and phase-II being revival. He also informed members about the various efforts of FAITH for the tourism industry.

Subhash Goyal, Secretary General, FAITH, has revealed that in the wake of the impact of COVID-19 outbreak on travel and tourism industry, they will be approaching Ministry of Tourism (MOT) and urge them to use their unutilised funds for immediate relief of the industry. “2020 should be declared a tourism draught year because we are sure that in the entire year, tourism is not going to be revived. All the airlines would remain grounded, and we know that all visas have been cancelled. Hence, our revenues have totally dried up. We had a meeting through video conferencing of the FAITH board members, which consists of all the presidents of all the associations, and it has unanimously decided to approach our parent ministry—MOT—to utilise its unutilised funds of the MOT for immediate relief for the tour operators, travel agents and particularly the small and medium operators. We do not have money to pay the salaries and the various statutory obligation. Hence, it is very important that at least Rs. 1,500 crores from the old budget of the tourism ministry and the new budget should be given as immediate relief. The TCS, which has been extended at the moratorium of loans and interest, should be extended for at least one year and TCS should be completely scrapped because it will kill the outbound tourism of the country.”

Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) has been sharing a regular updates with the Ministry of Tourism(MOT) and Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on the impact of COVID-19 on the industry and apprise the Government on the effect of the outbreak has been till now. The update letter reads, “This is one of the worst crisis ever to hit the Indian tourism industry  impacting all its geographical segments – inbound, outbound & domestic, almost all tourism verticals— leisure, adventure, heritage, mice, cruise, corporate & niche segments. The whole tourism value chain across hotels, travel agents, tour operations, destinations, restaurant, family entertainment venues & air, land & sea transportation.” – Inbound foreign tourism of $ 28 bn + in value terms accounts for on an average basis almost 60-65%  between October to March. As the news of the virus started picking up from November, the percentage  of cancellations started going up in this segment exponentially and is reaching a peak of almost 80% now in March in many Indian locations. The value at risk from this segment will be in multiples of tens of thousands of crores. – The forward bookings for the inbound season of October 2020 – March 2021, which should have started picking are all muted.  These are showing highly discouraging signs with cancellations of important global travel marts which are marketplaces for contracting for the next season. – The value of NRI segment from developed markets whose major season for visit to their families and relatives is around 60% + during April to September. There are reports of large-scale forward cancellations from these and unless the progression of the virus stops the almost entire value …

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.”

The India Tourism Mart (ITM), organised by the Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) and the Ministry of Tourism (MOT), will be tentatively held from September 29 to October 1, 2019, announced Subhash Goyal, Secretary General, FAITH. He also told that these dates are tentative, considering that any other inbound travel show like KTM as well as the National Tourism Awards would not clash with the same. This year, ITM had around 250 foreign buyers in attendance with an equal number of exhibitors. He also revealed that they are expecting around 500 buyers to come for the next year’s edition as they will have enough time to plan the event unlike this time, when they organised it within 2.5 months.

The Federation of Associations in Indian Travel and Hospitality (FAITH) recently organised a farewell dinner for Rashmi Verma, Former Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, at the ITC Maurya, New Delhi. Verma superannuated from her position on November 30, 2018. Thanking her for her contribution to the inbound industry, Subhash Goyal, Secretary General, FAITH, said, “Rashmi Verma has been a great support to the industry in her tenure and has been instrumental in taking many initiatives during her tenure that have proven to be a gamechanger for the industry. The number of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) to India crossed the 10 million mark during her tenure. She was a great support for organising the first India Tourism Mart (ITM) in New Delhi recently. She was also a call away for all of us whenever there was an issue plaguing the industry. It has been a pleasure for the industry to work with her and we would like to thank her for being a constant support for all of us.” Also present on the occasion was Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, who has succeeded Verma recently. All the presidents and senior members of the associations that are part of FAITH were also present at the event.

The maiden India Tourism Mart (ITM) is being organised from September 16-18, 2018 by the Ministry of Tourism, along with Federation of Associations in Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) at The Ashok, New Delhi. The mart will be formally inaugurated by Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Railways, Coal and Corporate Affairs, in the presence of KJ Alphons, Minister of State (I/C), Ministry of Tourism. The mart is being attended by 250 delegates from 60 countries, who also attended the Paryatan Parv at the Rajpath Lawns. The buyers were welcomed at The Ashok by Nakul Anand, Chairman, FAITH, who met with all the presidents of associations under the FAITH umbrella, as well as the exhibitors. ITM will give an opportunity to the buyers to see world-class tourism facilities available in the country such as airports, hotels, tourist destinations, MiCE facilities, potential in the field of adventure tourism and other niche products.

With a day stacked with business sessions focusing on imperative issues and state presentations, the audience was treated with intense discussions on day one of the two-day convention in Vishakhapatnam. The day started with the conventional IATO Run for Responsible Tourism in the morning. The first session of the day aimed to highlighted the challenges of touching the ambitious milestone of 20 million foreign tourist arrivals within the next few years. The panelists also touched upon the ways in which this can be achieved. The second session brought together members of key hotel companies face to face with tour operators to discuss what both industries can do to help the other since it is getting harder and harder to do business, whether it is the hotels or the travel trade.  The following session had an all-women panel who spoke about their personal experiences that are evidence that India is a safe country. However, they did present ways in which the safety of women travellers could improve. The final panel discussion, moderated by Rajesh Mudgill, MD, Planet India Travels, deliberated on how to change one’s business to adapt to the changing mindset of today’s travellers. In between the state presentations and panel discussions, the audience also took advantage of individual presentations made by Nakul Anand, Chairman, FAITH; an informative session on how travel agents can use digital marketing by Avijit Arya, Founder, Internet Mogul.