The lack of immediate support in the Budget has disappointed the tourism and hospitality sector, though measures to strengthen infrastructure may help the beleaguered segment, the industry players said on Monday. The tourism, travel and hospitality industry was looking for immediate and short-term measures for critical revival. This has not happened in the budget announcements, they added.
”Lack of immediate direct support in the Budget has disappointed the Indian travel and tourism industry,” Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) Chairman Nakul Anand said. While infrastructure measure announced in the Budget may boost tourism over long-term, the opportunity for immediate support has regretfully been missed out, he added.
The Union Budget has given proposals for enhancing rail, road, ports, metro lite infrastructure and PPP in buses, airports and ports, including vista coaches in tourist routes. These infrastructure measures may boost tourism over a long-term, but only once they are implemented, FAITH said. In a similar vein, Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) said the Union Budget 2021 has disappointed the hospitality industry.
”Hospitality and Tourism roughly account for 10 percent of India’s GDP and employ nearly 9 percent of India’s working population and yet, it failed to find space in the Union Budget,” FHRAI Vice President Gurbaxish Singh Kohli said. The hospitality and tourism industry was looking forward to some relief measures to lift this most severely affected industry by COVID-19. Instead, it has yet again completely and fully chosen to ignore us, he added.
National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) President Anurag Katriar said: ”As an industry worth Rs 4,23,865 crore which is expected to grow to Rs 5,99,784 crore by 2022-23 and as an industry that employs over 7 million jobs, it was disappointing to see that no specific announcements were made for the restaurant industry as well as the overall Hospitality and the Tourism Sector in the just presented budget”.
On the other hand, OYO India and South Asia CEO Rohit Kapoor said, ”The Government’s focus on extending and improving transport (road, railway, metro) infrastructure with nearly 217 projects worth over Rs 1 lakh crore to be completed under National Infrastructure Pipeline will enable travellers to explore hidden gems and therefore bolster the domestic tourism and hospitality industries”.
Additionally, keeping up with the changing times, and overall focus on technology with interventions like incentivising and promoting digital payments will fast track India’s transition into a digitally-enabled economy, he added. ”We expect a full-throttle vaccination programme augmented by the Rs 34,000 crore funding will bring the long-awaited cheer to the sector. People will start flying with confidence for leisure like during Pre-COVID times after being significantly emboldened by inoculation against the virus,” Bird Group ED Ankur Bhatia said.
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First Published: Feb 1, 2021 5:30 PM IST
