'One India One Tourism' approach, E Visa fee waiver: TAAI Budget Expectations 2022

New Delhi: Travel and Tourism industry has been the biggest sufferer in this pandemic. The upcoming budget of 2022 may bring them some hope if the government implements measures to give them a boost. Travel Agents Association of India has come out with its Budget expectations that may support the entire sector holistically that includes ‘Travel Tourism & Hospitality’ and will help in making this sector survive, revive & economically support India to become the largest hub for the world.

TAAI Budget expectation document suggest that both the central and state governments should work in tandem to facilitate this sector & support it to be included in the concurrent list to get Industry Status to make it more structured.

It states that the government should strive to increase the disposable income of the middle classes so that discretionary spending will rise. Concrete steps should be taken to improve the cash flows and reduce the working capital burden on start-ups, existing MSMEs & SMEs. Access to easy credit, reducing income tax rate & GST tax rate, abolishment of TCS & wage support with ease of business. Strengthening MSMEs, creating a fund of funds scheme for technology adoption for use in industry 4.0, reviving the Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS) for technology up-gradation.

The document states that to revive this struggling sector, they need ‘One India One Tourism’ approach inclusive of ‘One Tax Structure.’ E visa fees waiver to be considered for all tourist visas for 2022-2023, to support inbound revival Export status for tourism export earnings to support the inbound revival. Doubled, expenditure allocation for tourism ministry to enable intensive global reach out to support the inbound revival. Domestic income tax travel credit for Indian citizens and Indian companies to support domestic retail and domestic mice pickup. Global bidding fund to enable bidding support to Indian mice companies to bring global mice events to India. Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) extension for tourism and hospitality. ATF ought to be brought under the GST to make air travel more viable for the entire aviation stakeholders.

TAAI demands that lastly & most vital is a structured mechanism to future secure travel agents’ payments to ensure that we create security for our travel agents & operators’ survival. Travel agents’ payments to principals are unsecured credit and we need to ensure that some form of mechanisms whether escrow or guarantee or underwriting based mechanisms are in place to ensure that travel agents money stays secure.