Tag Archives: FHRAI

Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI), in a letter to the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), has suggested making necessary changes in the vaccination guidelines to include banquet halls in hotels as venues for mass immunization of the corporate sector. FHRAI has stated that banquet halls in hotels are better equipped than schools, colleges, or community halls for the purpose.

FHRAI has stated that the RBI’s latest policy measures are grossly inadequate to address the problems of the hospitality industry and that the sector has yet again been ignored. Tourism and hospitality business being seasonal and dynamic, the industry is looking to receive specific tweaks in Resolution Framework 2.0 and has even submitted a representation to the RBI Governor.

FHRAI has written to Home Minister Amit Shah and Minister of Health & Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan,  and has requested for recognition of hospitality workers in the country as ‘Frontline Corona Warriors’ and be nominated for priority vaccination. In its letter, FHRAI stated that hotels and restaurants across the country provided their support to the Government by offering rooms for housing quarantined passengers, doctors, health workers and the police, among others while restaurants served over 3 lakh meals per day to the needy.

FHRAI has initiated #GoDirect campaign requesting patrons to book their hotel stays #BookDirect or order their food directly from restaurants #OrderDirect. This is in order to eliminate intermediaries and reduce the burden of exorbitant commissions levied by online travel aggregators (OTAs) and food service aggregators (FSAs).

In response to the request by Confederation of Kerala Tourism Industry (CKTI) and FHRAI to allow reopening of spas and Ayurveda centres in the state, Kerala government has said that the same will be allowed to operate with strict compliance of COVID protocols and guidelines, to help overcome the crisis faced by the tourism industry.

FHRAI has appealed to Government of India to aggressively promote domestic tourism in 2021. The association has emphasized on the need to encourage local tourism under the Ministry of Tourism’s (MoT) Dekho Apna Desh Pledge campaign. The association has also recommended incentivising domestic tourism by offering tax exemption under 80C of up to Rs 50,000.

India’s apex hotel association, FHRAI has appealed to Government of India to aggressively promote domestic tourism this year, and recommended that incentivising domestic tourism by offering tax exemption under Section 80C of up to Rs50,000 to Indian nationals will encourage them to travel, thus helping achieve the goal.

Sharing his expectations on the impending Budget, Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, Vice President, FHRAI, says, “We request Nirmala Sitharaman and Prahlad Singh Patel to bring tourism under the Concurrent List of the Constitution along with granting industry status to the hospitality sector. Lack of adequate support is impeding survival and revival efforts.”

Himanshu Talwar, Assistant Secretary General, FHRAI, has been given the additional responsibility as the Additional Director at FHRAI Institute of Hospitality Management (FIHM), Greater Noida. Management of FHRAI has bestowed the new responsibility on Talwar, where he will be working under the guidance of the Secretary General, FHRAI.

FHRAI has asked the government to provide soft loans with low interest rate to hotel and restaurant players to help cover working capital requirements and help them sustain themselves. This, the Federation says, can support the industry until it reaches the pre-pandemic business levels.