Tag Archives: tour operators

Speaking on the impact of AI & ChatGPT on travel industry at the PATA India Chapter’s webinar, Matt Gibson, CEO, UPTHINK said, “AI is no replacement for travel professionals, as it cannot offer the personalisation that tour operators/ travel agents can give.”    

The matter regarding extending the validity of the approval/ recognition of the existing stakeholders (tour operators/ travel agents/tourist transport operators) given by the Ministry of Tourism and grant of provisional recognition for the new agencies in view of crisis caused due to the Covid-19 pandemic has been considered in the Ministry. It has been decided to give extension to the existing validity of the tour operators, travel agents and tourist transport operators upto 30.06.2022.

The IATO wrote to PM seeking respite in travel norms and financial aid to overcome the crisis that, has worsened after international flights were postponed. Rajiv Mehra, President IATO, with 1,700 members, want the 7 day quarantine to be waived for vaccinated travellers with a negative RT-PCR report and urged the Centre for financial support to small and medium tour operators, to help save lakhs of jobs.

Tour operators from Kashmir Tourism Trade Bodies Joint Forum (KTTBJF) have demanded some measures that need to be taken by the Government for the revival of the tourism industry in J&K. They demanded that tour and travel operators have gained popularity and need to be recognised as a tourism unit and all the industrial benefits must be given to the tour operators as are given to the hoteliers. They also urged that the tourism incentive scheme should be extended for the next 15 years and travel agents and tour operators should be included, and all the pending cases should be cleared at the earliest. They also demanded a waiver on the GST and claimed that the Government should first let the tourism sector breathe first. They also pointed out that the adventure tour operators are going through many problems and for the last 3 years they have not been able to pay the bank EMIs of the loans they have taken for increasing the infrastructure for adventure tourism.

Tour operators from Maharashtra have started the ‘Unlock Kashmir Tourism Campaign’ with support from the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department, for which a 70-member delegation of travel operators from Mumbai visited Kashmir. Since the tourism industry in J&K took was shaken post COVID, tourism department of J&K supported this initiative and invited the trade and media to promote tourism sector in the valley.

Ministry of Tourism (MOT) has decided that provisional certificates can be issued in favour of all categories of Tour Operators (Inbound, Domestic, Adventure) / Travel Agencies / Tourist Transport Operators who have submitted fresh applications, complete in all respects and have also made the required payment for grant of recognition as a new case. This has been done at this time, when physical inspection of office premises of applicants is not being undertaken by the Inspection Committee headed by the Regional Director, India tourism Offices in India. The Provisional Certificate would be valid for a period of six months from the date of submission of complete fresh application or till the time of actual physical verification / inspection and subsequent final decision of the Ministry with reference to grant of recognition, whichever is earlier. However, such Tour Operators/ Travel Agencies / Tourist Transport Operators who are issued  Provisional Certificates, shall not be eligible for any financial benefits under MDA or any other scheme of the Ministry, till such time a final decision regarding grant of  recognition is taken by the Ministry.

A recent Travel Consul survey that analyses the impact and outlook of the COVID-19 outbreak on tour operators and agency owners suggests that at least 42 per cent of the businesses surveyed will not be able to sustain themselves for more than three months in the absence of any government intervention. While a meagre 3 per cent of the respondents said that they have a chance of survival for a period of 7-10 months, those who will be able to sustain themselves for a longer period in the absence of government intervention made up only 12 per cent of the total respondents.

According to a recent ruling, starting January 22 2017, tour operators will have to pay a service tax on 60 per cent of the amount they bill the customer. The move might make the cost of the tours to go up by 10-15 per cent. Before this, tour operators had to pay service tax on 25 per cent of the bill amount if they offered a packaged tour, and in case of offering their service for booking a hotel as part of a tour, they paid service tax on only 10 per cent of the bill amount. For any other tour-related service, the service tax was on 40 per cent of the bill amount.