Travel operators in AP bat for bailout

THE long spell of Covid-19 pandemic with intermittent break and measures taken to defuse it has taken a heavy toll on the travel industry in Andhra Pradesh.

According to sources in the industry, the losses suffered by the industry so far is approximately Rs 25 crore per month and a cash loss of about Rs 425 crore by May-end 2021. The travel agents are in a pathetic situation and bleeding in a challenging business scenario. Even after the situation comes under control, they expect that the recovery will take at least two years.

The shutdown of tourist spots, hotels and suspension of flight, rail and bus services as part of lockdown and other curbs since the outbreak of the first spell has made the travel operators bankrupt forcing them to send a Save our Soul (SOS) message to Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to unveil a package to bail them out.

"Covid-19 has ruined us financially. The cascading effect of the virus has crippled the industry for the past 17 months and we have never seen a meltdown of this kind. The travel industry is faced with bankruptcies, closure of businesses and mass unemployment with capital base erosion and heavy outstanding amounts towards rental, EMIs and monthly power bills etc," Tours & Travels Association of Andhra (APTA) president K Vijay Mohan told Bizz Buzz on Tuesday.

He said tourist arrivals both domestic and overseas had been completely stopped due to closure of popular tourist destinations like Visakhapatnam, Konaseema, Tirupati, Amaravati and Buddhist sites like Thottlakonda. The industry is facing an uncertain future with the talk of a third wave hitting the country sometime later.

Visakhapatnam attracts a large number of tourists because of connectivity including flights to Dubai, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur before the pandemic wrought havoc.

Tourism Industry normally contributes 10 per cent of the GDP. According to Vijay Mohan, approximately 50 per cent of the agents have become bankrupt and 90 per cent of the travel agents will be forced to close down by the year-end if there is no improvement in the situation in the near future..

He said the travel agents in Andhra Pradesh have about 6,000 employees, and with no revenues, almost all tourism businesses have run out of any capital and are unable to pay salaries to staff. He sought financial assistance to stakeholders and referred to GO RT No.243 dated 28-12-2020 which was proposed to extend working capital loan through the banks and to provide interest subsidy. However, he regretted that there has been a lot of reluctance from the banks on the same.

He sought intervention of the government to bail out the travel agents with a grant up to Rs 5 lakh and Rs 50,000 to each employee or to work out a loan model of up to Rs.20 lakh at a low interest. Stating that some of the agents and their family members as well as employees have been either affected by the virus or died, he said dependents of three agents who passed away should be given ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh. The travel operators have already approached the government seeking waiver of power bill, exemption on renewal of trade licence fees, advertisement tax exemption, interstate road Taxes & intra city tax exemption for tourist buses. . As part of revival package, the travel operators have sought declaration of travel sector as an industry, notify 2022 as the Year of Visit Andhra Pradesh and seek investments to develop private beaches for foreign tourists. Their wish list includes creating a signature tower as new image building for Andhra Pradesh, promoting MICE tourism, allowing night safari at Indira Gandhi Zoological Park and incentives to strengthen existing social infrastructure.