IATO urges govt for a timeline on resuming tourist visas, international flights
Premium- IATO urged the government to permit arrangements for tourists from Sri Lanka and other countries with which India has air bubble arrangement
NEW DELHI: Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), which represents more than 1,600 operators for inbound tourists, on Tuesday urged the government to take multiple steps that can help the tour operators to tide over the ongoing crisis brought by covid-19 pandemic.
Noting that India has air bubble arrangements with countries like Sri Lanka, and as per the understanding reached, they are allowing Indian tourists to visit their country, IATO urged the government to permit similar arrangements for tourists from Sri Lanka and other countries with which India has air bubble arrangement.
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Besides, the association requested the government to draw a timetable for opening of visas including e-visa and resumption of international flights. This will allow the Indian tour operators to sound their counterparts abroad in advance and bookings could be made likewise. Further, countries are opening up for travel for those fully vaccinated and India can adopt the same model.
IATO requested the government to urgently announce Service Export Incentive Scheme (SEIS) for the financial year 2019-20 which has been delayed by almost one year now. This will lead to some cash flow for tour operators which is critical for their survival.
Among financial incentives, the association seeks abolishment of levy of Tax Collection at Source (TCS) on foreign tourists as they are not liable to pay income tax in India and, therefore, cannot claim refund as they don’t have a PAN number.
Rajiv Mehra, president, IATO said, “ We have made multiple representation to the government bringing to their notice, that the objective of the TCS levy was to bring Indian’s in the tax net and it was not meant for taxing international tourists and as a result we are losing business to neighbouring countries like Nepal,Bhutan, Sri Lanka and other countries where no such levy is charged."
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