Indian tourism required the boost to the aviation sector in the Budget

“We are thankful to the government and the Finance Minister for acceding to our request of revamping the ECLGS and extending it till March 2023. This will provide relief to aviation and tourism.”

— Dinesh Khanna, Chairman, World Travel & Tourism Council India Initiative

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Dinesh Khanna, Chairman, World Travel & Tourism Council India Initiative (WTTCII) was disappointed with the Indian Finance Minister for ignoring some of the long-pending demands of the travel and tourism industry in the country. Even as he appreciated the overall focus on infrastructure, accessibility, and ease of doing business in the Union Budget 2022-23 presented by the Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament, Khanna, who is a hotelier himself, felt that the government should have extended the free five lakh ETVoA scheme announced by the Finance Minister in June 2021. He welcomed the proposal to revamp the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee (ECLG) Scheme and its extension till March 2023.

“We are thankful to the government and the Finance Minister for acceding to our request of revamping the ECLGS and extending it till March 2023. This will provide relief to aviation and tourism,” Khanna said.

The long-standing issue of the TCS anomaly, which makes buying a holiday package from a foreign company cheaper than buying from an Indian organisation, remained unresolved.

Khanna also welcomed the proposal to revamp the online system PARIVESH for the single window environment-related clearances. “Overall it focuses on infrastructure, access, and ease of business. New provisions for roads, the introduction of railway connectivity, e-passports for seamless connectivity, future mobility solutions like multimodal connectivity would definitely lend its benefits to tourism. Single-window clearance for PARIVESH being envisaged is another step towards removing barriers for implementing tourism projects,” he said.

To boost tourism, Khanna felt that the government should have extended the free five lakh ETVoA scheme which along with an aggressive reconnect programme would help India as a destination for FY 2022-23. “We feel that aviation, which is crucial to tourism, has been overlooked in this

Budget. Indian low-cost or full-service carriers must be encouraged with easier bilateral support, supportive code share arrangements to connect prime source markets and increase seat capacity. The long-standing issue of the TCS anomaly, which makes buying a holiday package from a foreign company cheaper than buying from an Indian organisation, remained unresolved.

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