A united front from tourism...................
A united delegation of four travel trade associations - IATO, ADTOI, ATOAI and OTOAI - met the Tourism Minister, Prahlad Singh Patel, in Delhi to discuss various grievances faced by tour operators amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Minister heard out the delegation and also addressed issues individually faced by the associations.
The Tourism Minister has assured all possible support and said that the ministry has already reached out to the Finance Minister for industry-specific relief. Association representatives felt content after the meeting and have expressed gratitude to the
Minister for giving them a patient ear. The Minister has called out for a united stand of the industry to fight the pandemic and overcome all the challenges.
Under the united delegation, IATO was represented by Pronab Sarkar (President) and Rajiv Mehra (Vice President), while ATOAI, ADTOI and OTOAI were represented by Captain Swadesh Kumar (President), PP Khanna (President) and Riaz Munshi (President), respectively. From the tourism ministry, Rakesh Sharma, Joint Secretary, MOT and Meenakshi Sharma, DG, Tourism, were also present. We share individual takes from each association at the meeting.
Collateral & interestfree long-term loans
The IATO delegation met the Minister to impress upon him the need for direct stimulus for the sector. This was the first meeting post the lockdown with the Minister, and the delegation apprised him about the acute distress that the tourism industry is undergoing. The delegation impressed upon the Minister that tour operators are not in a position to pay salaries to their staff since there is no business and they are under acute financial crisis, and requested financial support to tour operators so that they do not close down their business. “If no financial support is provided, all these young tourism professionals will have no other option but to be without a job and wait for tourism to revive or to leave the tourism industry and wait to learn other skills and join other industries, which will be a great loss of skilled tourism professionals and service providers,” said Sarkar.
They also requested that special collateral-free and interest-free long-term loans (5-10 years) be provided to tour operators for revival of business and aggressive marketing once tourism is back to business. The delegation also appraised the Minister to support tour operators on request made to the Ministry of Commerce regarding enhancing the SEIS for 2019-20 and recommending their case to the Ministry of Finance.
Sarkar assured the Minister that once the situation improves, tourism will be back on track and within a period of 6-12 months, business will grow fast and efforts will be made to retain all jobs. Issue of revision in Marketing Development Assistance (MDA) guidelines was taken up.
If no financial support is provided, all these young tourism professionals will have no other option but to be without a job - Pronab Sarkar
President of the Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI), Captain
Swadesh Kumar, in discussion with the Tourism Minister, briefed about various issues the industry is currently facing. He said that the meeting was really good and positive. “We are really happy after meeting the Tourism Minister who was very receptive to our requests. It was very clear that the only financial benefit we can get is the measures announced for MSMEs by the finance minister during her relief package announcement. The Minister said he can assist if any issue arises related to that,” Kumar said.
One of the strong points which was made during the meeting was that all the relief measures announced by the finance minister are for those who have a relationship with the banks. “We made a request that benefits should be extended to those, too, who do not have any relationship with banks. This was one of several positive aspects of the meeting,” he added.
Another point which the association discussed was clarity on when the destinations were going to open for tourism, to which the Minister said that he cannot predict when borders and connectivity are going to open, since this decision lies under discretion of individual states. The Minister’s view was that Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh will open up for tourism shortly, and asked the association to be ready for the same.
“During the meeting, we neither asked about tourism task force or anything else, we went to meet the Minister specifically for financial help. We also asked to make MDA norms more liberal and easier. The Minister said they will work on it. The ministry also apprised us about doing a huge marketing campaign in India and abroad,” Kumar said. We also asked to make MDA norms more liberal and easier The Minister also put focus on promoting SOPs and guidelines which they are making for convenience of tourism stakeholders in the post-COVID-19 era. “We have been asked to follow the guidelines and protocols of the SOP and promote the same among our members and others,” Kumar added.