Enroute facilities are limited
Raj Bajaj, Convener, IATO Railways/surface Transport Committee, says airline turbulence has affected travel by road, but the high fuel cost makes the difference negligible.
PEDEN DOMA BHUTIA What has the IATO railway and surface transport committee been up to this year?
There are several pending issues with railways which are impacting tourist movements and the IATO delegation of Railway and Survey Transport Committee has had several meetings with railway officials to resolve these issues.
The concerned departments in the railways are reviewing our representations to streamline the following: • With effect from March 10, 2012, the advance booking window has been increased to 120 days. It should be brought down to 45-60 days in order to avoid touts from taking advantage. • Name change facility for Foreign Tourists needs to be introduced by the railways. • The procedure for group booking needs to be simplified. • Entry passes for tour operators (IATO members) should be introduced to facilitate foreign clients for meet and assist at platforms: Members recognised by the
• Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India and are issued airport entry pass by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, after police verification is completed, may be allowed to enter the platform as well as at the Railway Stations for receiving their foreign clients. Railway may issue Photo IDs to the IATO Presently, 19% commission is offered to overseas GSAs on USD Indrail passes. We propose at least 17% commission to IATO members who could be designated as PSAs to purchase Indrail passes from International Tourist Bureau against payment of INR bank draft along with FIRC (This
• demand has been long overdue and had been assured by the Railway Board/ Northern Railway Officers in the past but has not yet been implemented) Similarly, for surface transportation, providing wayside amenities and streamlining the road tax process for seamless travel at the borders and rationalising road taxes are our major priorities. How has the airline turbulence in the country affected travel by road?
The airline turbulence has affected travel by road mainly because weekend travel has increased, but then because of the high fuel cost, the difference is very negligible. It is not possible to take long journeys byroad as road conditions are bad and enroute facilities are limited. What are the challenges that travel operators face?
The main problems plaguing us are service tax, road tax, toll tax and luxury tax on accommodation, VAT on hot food, hike in fuel cost, lack of facilities on road routes, safety hazards etc which are our main challenges as travel operators. We are trying our best to streamline the operations by having proper partnerships.