“Tourism’s $5 Trillion Dream Hinges on Industry Status, Says FAITH secretary”
As India aspires to become a global economic powerhouse, can its tourism sector—currently contributing a mere fraction of its potential afford to remain in the regulatory wilderness?
Rajiv Mehra, General Secretary of FAITH, makes a compelling case for urgent reform.
RAJIV MEHRA, GENERAL SECRETARY, FAITH
“Tourism has a huge tourism potential. In economic terms it can easily contribute about 5 percent to GDP. Much of the potential remains untapped, this is largely because tourism is still not treated as an industry.
The sector has long demanded industry status which will allow it access to credit at lower rate of interest and lower utility rate, thus bringing down the cost of building Hotels. Also Hotels are very steeply taxed and when this tax is passed on to end users it impacts their occupancy. Our neighboring countries are competitive as their tax rates are lower.
The other important point is there is lack of marketing which leads to lower number of Foreign Tourist Arrivals. We need to have dedicated budget for marketing.
Above all we need holistic approach.”
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