Tourism sector can boost economy

MAKEMYTRIP CEO CALLS FOR THE NEED TO THINK HOLISTICALLY ABOUT THE TOURISM INDUSTRY AND ITS IMPACT ON ECONOMY

NEW DELHI: The countries that have realised the importance of tourism and its impact on the economy have provided it the industry status and it is quite desirable that India follows suit, travel portal makemytrip.com CEO Deep Kalra has said.

“It is very important we do that because the amount of employment it generates and jobs of all kinds,” Kalra said at the Hindustan Times Tourism Conclave on Friday. He called for the need to think holistically about the tourism industry and its impact on the economy. “The good thing is we have all the natural bounty. However, the hoteliers of Agra complain that people visit there, see the Taj, and return in the evening. What can be done to hold them back?” He said the need was to make the entire experience including travelling, enjoyable and memorable. Kalra referred to Lakshadweep and said it is one of the country’s best-kept secrets. He added it would be a marvellous tourist destination.

Kalra said high Goods and Services Tax, which goes up to 28%, rendered the industry uncompetitive as compared to other parts of the world. He added the industry has made concerted efforts and expected there could be a revision in the coming days. He said there could not be a better time to give a big push to tourism as PM Narendra Modi has appealed to Indians to discover domestic destinations. He said trends were changing and at makemytrip.com a lot of demand was to organise women-only trips. Kalra said a new concept of celebration travel had also set in and had been boosted by direct flights to a lot of destinations globally.