Rajiv Mehra President – IATO
The topmost plan of IATO is to see the situation at hand and then appeal to the Government to start the scheduled flights when the time is opportune. Let me put it this way that the plan on the anvil is the Extension of Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) for the tourism industry for the next five years in the upcoming Foreign Trade Policy, 2021-25. Since the current Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 is likely to be replaced by new Foreign Trade Policy 2021-25, the Association has recommended that:
a) the benefit of the SEIS scheme may be continued for the tour operators and travel agencies for the next five years under the new FTP;
b) the admissible rate of SEIS may be hiked from 7 per cent to 10 per cent of net foreign exchange earned by the tourism industry.
c) SEIS should continue to be available to the first recipient of foreign exchange.
IATO wrote to Director General, Directorate General of Foreign Trade with a request to open window for selling of duty scrips by the tour operators
We have also requested Secretary Tourism, Govt of India regarding confusion created by Travel Advisories/Guidelines of State Governments for foreign/international travellers and MOT to take up with MOHFW to issue guidelines to all the State Governments/Union Territories which they should follow so that once normal international flight operation resumed, foreign tourists could travel to India without any confusion or hesitation. I spoke about this during my interview on Zee Business on 30th December 2021 at 5 pm.
After the situation becomes normal, our main objective would be to start marketing and promotions in overseas markets and the Ministry of Tourism by conducting roadshows, participating in overseas travel marts, and requesting the Government for aggressive promotions and publicity through electronic and print media.
Secondly, once the travel and business conditions become conducive, there have to be policy formulations that must look at opening the borders, at least with those countries who have recovered to a sizable extent and are also opening up to tourists.
Other policy facets need to be viewed to promote solidarity within the travel industry, such as:
• Removal of cascading effect of GST on Tourism Industry
• Removal of GST on services provided outside India to foreign tourists
• Withdrawal of tax collection at source (TCS) for the foreign tourists
• Refund of IGST paid by the tourist leaving India on supply of goods taken out of India-Tax Refund for Tourists (TRT) Scheme to be implemented.
Besides the above, we have also requested that the Government extend the time limit for 5 lakh free tourist visas until March 2023. If required, we will ask to extend this till March
2024 as inbound tourism is still on hold and free tourist visas are not being utilised, and the time limit is going to be over, which is March 31, 2022.
Meanwhile, IATO members are also engaging and creating confidence with their customers while keeping the personalised touch, briefing and educating them about destinations, staying in touch with them while they are on their tour, and ensuring the SOPs at every point with trained personnel. These are the strategic areas where associations like ours and others are always ahead in the present circumstances.