Hoteliers bat for industry status for easy access to loans

Hit hard by the lockdown imposed due to COVID-19 pandemic, the hoteliers in Andhra Pradesh have intensified lobbying for getting industry status.

Association members from across the State have been representing the authorities to grant them industry status so as to improve their financial health.

"The situation now is very precarious and we accept that fulfilling the long pending demand for industry status will help us in overcoming some of the problems like getting easy access to finance from banks," Andhra Pradesh Hoteliers' Association president Akella Ramana Murthy told Bizz Buzz on Saturday.

The hoteliers feel that they are being forced to pay 12 types of taxes and duties in the form of GST, professional tax, property tax, income tax and labour and fire licence fees. They say being a labour-intensive sector and emphasis being laid to promote tourism in a big way by both the Central and State Governments, they should be given industry status from the current financial year.

The association, which has over 3,000 hotels, some of them from messes and parlours to three star lodging and boarding facilities, bemoans that despite closure of their establishments for six to nine months due to the pandemic, they are being forced to pay a minimum power bill of Rs.1.5 lakh per month as HT consumers. The State Government waived off the charges in the case of theatres, Murthy pointed out.

He said under Atma Nirbhar programme, though the Centre announced infusing of funds to the tune of Rs.3 lakh crore to facilitate revival of pandemic-hit enterprises, the hotels could not get any benefit for want of recognition as industry.

Insisting of replicating the model of Kerala where industry status had been accorded to hotels, he said even Karnataka was on verge of finalising a policy to recognise hotels as industry.

Stating that the declaration of Visakhapatnam as the executive capital would give a fillip to the tourism sector, he said the authorities should allow hotels to remain open till midnight instead of forcing them to shut down the shutters by 10 p.m. He said in view of difficulties being faced by the tourists and people visiting the city on some work from outside, the police should allow hotels to sell food till late in the evening.