Budget lets down travel, tour sector

Hyderabad: Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) has expressed displeasure over the Budget 2022 presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday.

"The growth of travel and tourism required a catalyst boost, but with none coming our way, the pandemic will continue to dampen our miseries multifold," association president Jyoti Mayal, vice-president Jay Bhatia and secretary general B Lokesh said in a statement.

They said that the trade suffered tremendously due to the pandemic and it was expected that the government would at least work towards uplift of the travel and tourism in India, which the government always portrays as a priority sector. In the budget speech, the Union Finance Minister set out 'Amritkal' being positive for the growth of the country, but the association feels that this is not Amrit Manthan but 'Mahapralaya' period for the travel and tourism sector in India. TAAI had pleaded for GST input credits to be made available across States for hotels and travel & tour operators. TCS has been a hinderance to growth of outbound tourism making Indian tour operators less competitive in the international market due to the 5% being levied on all package tour options over and above the GST.

"We were also expecting the least that travel and tourism would be brought under the concurrent list for industry status," Jyoti Mayal said. It was also wished that earnings from inbound travel would have been supported by export status, which would have enabled trade growth enhancing the economy. Travel and tourism contributed nearly 10% of India's GDP, being one of the highest in the service sector and not a mention for development and prosperity of the trade.

The association had appealed to the government to liberalise taxes and grant tax holidays on GST for boosting travel and tourism and the pleas were ignored, the TAAI said.