Centre should back entrepreneurs to boost tourism

The Union Ministry of Tourism is striving to position India as a preferred destination and increase its share in the global market by promoting destinations and local products. The objectives will be met through an integrated marketing and promotional strategy and a synergized campaign in association with the private sector, state governments, and Indian missions overseas, according to Union Tourism Minister G. Kishan Reddy. By all accounts, this is a laudable endeavour given tourism sector’s enormous growth potential. India is blessed as it offers a plethora of options, including ice-clad mountains to beaches and rivers, from forests to deserts, from historical, religious, and mythological sites to modern monuments. An added incentive is the vibrant, resilient entrepreneur class—along with various professionals—to cater to the wide range of requirements of the sector. The fact that tourism has a huge employment generating potential, across social, educational, cultural and economic backgrounds, makes it particularly important for the country.

Having realized these facts, the Union Government has been involved in a variety of promotional activities like participation in travel fairs and exhibitions, advertising, and organizing road shows, India evenings, seminars and workshops. Official bodies have also been organizing and supporting Indian food and cultural festivals and engaging with airlines, tour operators and the likes. Government functionaries are confident that the G20 tourism meetings held recently will further boost India’s prospects. Along the side-lines of the G20 tourism working group meeting, a national-level thematic discussion was organized on ‘Making India a Hub for Cruise Tourism’. It deliberated on various challenges and opportunities for developing cruise tourism in India following the principles of sustainability. Kishan Reddy recently also launched the draft National Strategy for Cruise Tourism. Importantly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself is a keen supporter of tourism—a fact that not many people take into account. Generally, politicians have shown little interest in tourism; Modi’s enthusiasm to promote tourism is evident from the fact that he took it upon himself to launch MV Ganga Vilas, the world’s longest river cruise, on January 13.

However, the Ministry of Tourism should not lose sight of the fact that the sector is yet to recover from the depredations of the Covid pandemic. The provisional data of the Bureau of Immigration shows that the foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) from this year’s January to April reached just 79 per cent of FTAs compared to the same period in 2019. No doubt, the ministry has a long way to go. Of the many challenges that the sector faces, perhaps the biggest one is the incidence of high taxation. The latest report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee has not only reiterated this fact but also urged the ministry to evaluate and review the effect of higher and multiple taxes on inbound tourism.

The Ministry of Tourism should take up the issue with the Ministry of Finance as well as the GST Council. It should also endeavour to minimize the incidence of ‘inspector Raj,’ the bane of Indian entrepreneurs. A pro-entrepreneur approach is imperative to boost tourism.