IATO urges government for relief as 3.8 crore jobs at stake

Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), an apex body representing more than 1600 inbound tour operators, on Friday urged government to provide relief measures to the tourism industry which has suffered a blow due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The body estimates that 3.8 crore jobs associated directly or indirectly with tourism industry are at stake and economy can lose revenue of about ₹5 lakh crore in the next one year.

With statutory dues, salaries, utility bills standing amidst zero cash flow, the industry needs immediate help, it said.

“We need both short-term and long-term measures. Where short term measures can help in survival, the long term one’s can help in revival. However, what we need is urgency in action as jobs and livelihoods are at stake and delay is announcement of sops is only adding to the existing strain," said Pronab Sarkar, president, IATO.

Under short term measures, the tourism body has suggested the government to allow the use of insurance corpus of ESI (employee state insurance) for paying wages to all tourism sector employees. It has also sought relief to be provided on support of scheme of Provident Fund as 90% of employees earn less than Rs15,000 in organisations and they should get full salary in hand.

The financial relief which the body has sought is deferment on statutory duties for a year, moratorium on bank loan instalments for at least 12 months after the lockdown is lifted without penal interest. Besides, it also seeks complete GST tax holiday for the tourism, travel and hospitality industry for a period of 12 months.

The industry body urged the government to direct airlines to process full refund against the bookings made by travel agencies. The state governments, which run luxury trains and wildlife parks safaris, should also consider processing full refunds to the tour operators as these services will not be resumed anytime soon, it added.

Among the long-term measures, the body has urged that inbound tourism Industry be given the status of deemed exporters based on their foreign exchange earnings and thus by placing them at par with exporters of goods and IT industry. It further asked the government to consider exemption of GST on foreign exchange billing.

To encourage domestic tourism, LTA incentives for Indian citizens should be available with all the tour operators recognised by the Ministry of Tourism, and Government of India and not remain limited to government tour operators alone, IATO said adding that visa fee could be either abolished or drastically reduced to make India a favourable tourist destination. All import duties required to upgrade tourism infrastructure should be waived off, it said.

“We need stimulus and we need it now. There won’t be any point in flagging dead horse. We need something for survival, if there is no survival, what will be there to revive. So, we urge the government to act fast and do something that helps us survive and save job losses," added Sarkar.

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