CII outlines a range of measures for the Goa government and the Center

Published on : Monday, July 26, 2021

Urging for the government’s intervention for resurrecting the travel and tourism sector, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has outlined a range of measures that the Goa government and the Center need to take. Among them are introducing vaccine passports, incentivizing domestic travel, improving healthcare infrastructure and tax sops.

CII has said that these policy decisions will not only benefit domestic tourism but will also support inbound tourism.

“In addition to speeding up vaccination, for a faster and safer re-opening of the economy, the travel and tourism sector can benefit immensely from vaccine passports. India should create a system of vaccine passports to allow fully vaccinated people and those who have recovered from Covid-19 in the past 90 days to travel freely without any requirement for testing across India,’’ CII said in its report.

Total revenue of the hotel industry is estimated to have declined roughly by 75% in the last financial year while it has not even crossed 5% since April 2021, said CII.

Regarding incentives, CII has recommended that a tax exemption of Rs. 50,000 should be given to all employees who spend three times the amount on hotel accommodation, airfare or tour packages. The other option would be allowing a deduction of Rs. 1 lakh under Chapter VI of Income Tax Act for travel.

“The government should announce a timetable, for opening visas and e-visas to allow the international tourists to plan their visits to India. The intervention should be taken up on an urgent basis, so as to not miss the coming winter season of travel,” said CII.