Tag Archives: Ministry of Tourism

Meenakshi Sharma, Director General, Ministry of Tourism (MOT), claimed that she is against regulation and prefers collaboration with the industry. Speaking at 4th TravTalk Digital Conclave, she said, “I believe in partnering and working together. However, I would like a database to be created where we can connect with each other. I am against regulation, but all for collaboration. I would be very happy if the industry takes that initiative and bring everyone together, so that we can talk.”

Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C), Tourism & Culture, has revealed that they have decided to launch a social platform along with the states where authentic and factually correct information is put up and it can then be shared with agencies, tourists, online aggregators, hotels, tour and travel companies. “It will be a platform by MOT, and the information available on this would mean that we have taken consent from states and have talked to the stakeholders of these states, and then we have allowed any traveller there. If everyone is not in agreement, then there are chances that they go to a state, airport, or destination and they must stay there, then it will be a dent in our trust. Hence to take such a precaution, we have thought about this platform, and it will be there for everyone,” he said.

Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, has said that after the Government has laid out SOPs for tourism stakeholders, including hotels and restaurants, as well as changing the definition of MSMEs for this sector, the MOT will now be coming up with more detailed operational advisories for tourism stakeholders and states, to ensure that operations happen smoothly and consumers are confident of using their services. “We have been in discussions with the stakeholders and we have been taking inputs regarding what they feel is the right way of starting operations. We shared our inputs when the SOPs were being finalised by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. As the next step, to further give confidence to the state governments and industry stakeholders, we will be further be coming up with detailed operational advisories. These will be more operational advisories to help the stakeholders in ensuring that their operations happen smoothly on one side, and this would also give more confidence to the consumers that our stakeholders would be operating, not only as per SOPs, but would be following very detailed functional operational advisories. Therefore, it should help in building confidence not only among the people who are going to do the business, but also among the people who are going to use the services. We are in the final stages of doing that,” he shared.

Considering the current situation, The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) has decided that validity of approval or certifications of hotels and other accommodation units whose project approvals/reapprovals and classification/reclassification have expired/are likely to expire during the period (24th March-29th June) are deemed to be extended till 30th June. Similarly, MOT has decided to allow six months’ relaxation or extension to all categories of Tour Operators (Inbound, Domestic, Adventure) Travel Agents and Tourist Transport Operators for their approval with the ministry subject to the following conditions: The previous approval expired or the current approval expires during the period of 20th March 2020 (i.e. the date of issuance of an order by the Ministry for discontinuation of inspection work by India Tourism offices) till continuation of lockdown. They applied for renewal before expiry of their current/previous approval. The Ministry has a scheme of approving Travel Agents, Tour Operators, Adventure Tour Operators, Domestic Tour Operators and Tourist Transport Operators etc. the idea being to encourage quality, standard and service in these categories so as to promote Tourism in India. Similarly, MOT classifies hotels under the star rating system to conform to the expected standards for different classes of tourists. Under this system, hotels are given a rating, from One Star to Three Star, Four and Five Star with or without alcohol, Five Star Deluxe, Heritage (Basic), Heritage (Classic), Heritage (Grand), Legacy Vintage (Basic), Legacy Vintage (Classic), Legacy Vintage (Grand) and Apartment Hotels, Homestays, Guest house etc. The classification/ certification is valid for a period of five years.

Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C), Tourism & Culture, Govt. of India, has said that they will be releasing new post-lockdown protocols for accommodation units, so that the clients can feel confident about travelling as well as overall safety. “Our objective is to revive demand as soon as possible. One way we can do this is to help overcome the fear of health while travelling. The ministry will soon be releasing new post-lockdown protocols for accommodation units to give confidence to clients to travel and stay safely. We are also coming out with a set of recommendations for different segments—travel agents, tour operators, transport operators, and facilitators/guides,” he shared in an interview to Hindustan Times.

In a webinar organised by MOT and IATO to address queries related to filling Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) by tourism industry stakeholders, Suman Sharma, ADG, Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), said that she and her team are trying to devise an industry-wise standard list of documents, which can help firms while filing SEIS claims. “The work on the document is almost complete from my end. I will submit the same to DGFT for their approval. It will probably help all the industries including tourism and will help them know what additional documents DGFT needs while they file SEIS and reduce the time of processing their application. Currently, DGFT doesn’t have FAQs specific to SEIS filing and claim procedure. Hence, a lot of travel industry professionals are facing issues with the same.” During the webinar, Rupinder Brar, ADG, MOT inquired about the FAQs looking at the number of queries from the trade and Suman Sharma agreed to do the same to help travel trade. Sharma is also the nodal officer to deal with SEIS claims and issues on tour and travel cases.

The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) held a virtual conference with the tourism and hospitality sector associations of the industry recently, which was led by Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary Tourism, MOT, along with senior officials of the Ministry. The Associations represented through remote conferencing were FAITH, CII, FICCI, PHDCCI and IMAI. The industry put forth a number of ideas and suggestions for tiding over the crisis created by COVID-19 in the sector of tourism and hospitality. The Ministry on its part shared the concerns and assured the associations that the government is very much with them in this grim hour and that they would work towards the suggestions put forth. There would be a lot of thrust on promoting domestic tourism was a common takeaway. MOT is using its social handles to create awareness of the need to stay at home safe in the period of lockdown and prepare to travel once the world opens up. In the meantime, the course modules of the Institutes of Hotel Management are being held online and faculty and students are using technology to remain abreast with their course curriculum.

Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, has revealed that they have put forth the industry representation and requests in front of the Finance Minister, so that they can work towards reducing the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on businesses. “The industry stakeholders need working capital and they are looking at interventions either from the banking sector in easing out of norms, or they will be looking at support through reduction of taxes. These are the things that would leave money in the hands of the industry as of now. We would be carrying out or taking with us the representation of the industry and the thrust would be that the industry needs to survive so that job losses do not happen. I would refer to the honourable PM’s speech to the nation, where he has himself mentioned that we should make sure that we don’t stop wages of anyone. Hence, all the efforts of the Ministry of Finance would be to ensure that no such job losses happen in the tourism and hospitality sectors.”

Rakesh Kumar Verma, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism (MOT), Govt. of India, has revealed that they have launched a champion sector scheme to boost MICE tourism in India. “The Champion Sector scheme reimburses part of the expenditure on hotel stay by the foreigners during events. We will start this scheme from 1st April this year. There are certain conditions but broadly for the first night’s stay, the GST charged on the stay will be reimbursed to the customer. MICE tourism is a very important component of tourism ministry and we are putting a lot of focus on developing this sector. India has great opportunity for growing this sector. We are trying to improve our rank and increase the number of meetings, which are happening in our country. As a Ministry, we will facilitate this bureau in taking this sector forward and growing this sector,” he said.

Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) has been sharing a regular updates with the Ministry of Tourism(MOT) and Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on the impact of COVID-19 on the industry and apprise the Government on the effect of the outbreak has been till now. The update letter reads, “This is one of the worst crisis ever to hit the Indian tourism industry  impacting all its geographical segments – inbound, outbound & domestic, almost all tourism verticals— leisure, adventure, heritage, mice, cruise, corporate & niche segments. The whole tourism value chain across hotels, travel agents, tour operations, destinations, restaurant, family entertainment venues & air, land & sea transportation.” – Inbound foreign tourism of $ 28 bn + in value terms accounts for on an average basis almost 60-65%  between October to March. As the news of the virus started picking up from November, the percentage  of cancellations started going up in this segment exponentially and is reaching a peak of almost 80% now in March in many Indian locations. The value at risk from this segment will be in multiples of tens of thousands of crores. – The forward bookings for the inbound season of October 2020 – March 2021, which should have started picking are all muted.  These are showing highly discouraging signs with cancellations of important global travel marts which are marketplaces for contracting for the next season. – The value of NRI segment from developed markets whose major season for visit to their families and relatives is around 60% + during April to September. There are reports of large-scale forward cancellations from these and unless the progression of the virus stops the almost entire value …