Travel, tourism and hospitality came to a halt due to the pandemic. This created a ripple effect resulting in many hotels and businesses closing down and job losses for many who depended on this industry for their livelihood.
Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) has once again appealed to the government for the moratorium on all working capital, principal, interest payments, loans and overdrafts which ended in August 2020, to be extended by another year.
With the continued impact of the second wave, it will take a minimum of four to five years for the hotel industry to see a return to some semblance of normalcy in its operations, reasons FICCI. In this situation, it has argued that the period of restructuring needs to be reviewed and that it is imperative that the restructuring period be extended till March 2024-’25.
FICCI has also requested the government to increase the repayment tenure of the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) to eight years (four years moratorium plus four years repayment).
Among other things, FICCI has stated that tour operators, who are among the worst affected, are in dire need of the Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) incentives for the financial year 2018-’19 which is still due to them.
It has said that the deferment of GST and advance tax payments at the union government level and removal of fees for any upcoming licenses, permits/ renewal and bail-out packages to fund and support salaries of the employees will also provide relief.
FICCI has also recommended that tourism must be included in the concurrent list of the constitution so that both the centre and the states can frame tourism policies for growth. To revive domestic tourism, the government should provide tax rebate of up to Rs. 1.5 lakh for spending on domestic holidays on the lines of the Leave Travel Allowance (LTA), it has recommended.
The industry federation has recommended key policy changes such as granting infrastructure status to all hotels, granting export status for foreign exchange earnings for inbound tours and hotels, and establishing an ‘Amusement Manufacturing Hub’ under Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan across all states to support development of the sector.
