The Union Tourism Ministry which saw an increased allocation and a slew of new initiatives last Budget remained largely ignored this time, dismaying the players in the sector.
While none of the demands from the tourism and hospitality industry has been looked at in the Budget, even the annual budgetary allocation for Tourism didn’t see commendable increase in this year’s Budget. The allocation for Ministry of Tourism was pegged at `1,500 crore compared to `1,483crore in the previous Budget.
Subhash Goyal, President, Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) said that overall the Budget was very disappointing for the Industry. “The Prime Minister was talking about job creation and poverty alleviation, and tourism was the best engine. Unfortunately, there is nothing in the Budget that could boost tourism in the country. We wanted exemption of Service Tax on foreign exchange earnings, which didn’t happen.
On the contrary, 0.5 per cent cess component has been added, which will increase Service Tax component to 15 per cent. The additional tax on SUVs and diesel coaches will make tourist coaches expensive,” he added.
The industry was hoping easing of service tax burden, industry status for hotel industry, as well as inclusion of small budget hotels in the harmonised list of infrastructure, said Goyal pointing out that tourism is one of the main sectors that’s been fuelling the Indian economy in a positive direction.