Looking forward for govt support
Over the last few weeks, the government has been actively engaging with industry and other stakeholders to announce various measures to revive the economy. Tourism and hospitality play a pivotal role in economic development and the industry was anxiously waiting for some key announcements from the Union Budget 2022-23. The Union Finance Minister has considered the extension of the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) and expanding its guarantee cover by
` 50,000 crore to ` 5 lakh crore. This will be a great boon for the hospitality and travel trade sector, which has been adversely impacted.
Hospitality is one of the industries that still has not recovered from the impact of the pandemic, whose intensity has still not lessened across the globe. The third wave of virus restricted people from travelling and slowed down the recovery witnessed by the industry in the last quarter of previous year. We extol the announcement by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget of extending the ECLGS by ` 50,000 crore up to March 2023. Hopefully, this move will provide breathing space to the players by creating further liquidity and assistaing the faster recovery of the hospitality sector.
By announcements made for the hospitality industry in Union Budget 2022, the Centre has shown that it understands the situation and plight of the industry, which is struggling to survive during the pandemic. Extension of the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) and allocation of additional ` 50,000 crore for hotels and hospitality sector till March 2023 has brought a wave of relief to the industry. The budget is also inclusive of aggressive infrastructure development with eight ropeways, an additional 25,000 km of National Highways and 400 new Vande Bharat trains, e-Passports among others.
AIRLINES
The Union Budget 2022-23 appears to be growth-oriented by increasing capital outlay of
` 7.5 lakh crore, fiscal deficit capped at 6.4 per cent and efforts are being made to reduce compliance burden and improve ease of doing business. We expect the Union Budget would enable India to achieve growth estimate of 9.2 per cent. We welcome the new incentives of issuing of e-passport and introduction of digital currency. Having said that we were expecting tax concession to aviation industry in the forms of cut in ATF excise duty.
CRUISE
While the travel and tourism industry has suffered significantly during the ongoing pandemic, it has also received an encouraging boost in the form of domestic travel. This momentum must be retained and seems more likely to keep rising. We have had a good run in year just gone by and we look at retaining the momentum and levelling up in 2022. Indians are traveling in India and choosing local destinations to explore the less explored and niche hidden gems of the country. This is a positive sign as the numbers speak for themselves.
VISA
We would like to applaud the government for a progressive Union Budget for 2022-23 about the introduction of e-Passports by using an embedded chip, to be rolled out in 2022-23. A well-thought initiative by Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman, this move will help boost the overall travel and tourism industry and also ease out the process for overseas travel and augment global mobility. We at BLS have been helping different governments across the world to roll out e-Passports and would be extremely glad to share our expertise with the Government of India.