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Mr. Rajiv Mehra, President – Indian Association of Tour Operators thanked the Hon’ble Finance Minister for giving due importance to the government considering its role in economic growth of the country and employment generation.
Mr. Mehra thanked the Hon’ble Finance Minister for developing 50 Tourist Destinations to enhance India’s global standing as a premier tourist destination in partnership with state governments. This will include infrastructure development to improve the overall visitor experience. The focus will be on enhancing the appeal and accessibility of these locations to attract more visitors. Special focus on destinations associated with the Buddha Sector. These sites will be developed to promote spiritual tourism, aiming to attract both domestic and international visitors to elevate India’s status as a spiritual tourism hub. To encourage local tourism, mudra loans will be available to homestay businesses; to promote medial tourism to attract foreign patients under “Heal-in-India” campaigns; to introduce funds-of-funds to support technological innovation and startups in the sector. There is also mention of adding new sector under Udaan Scheme and most important is Visa fee waivers and e-visa options that will be introduced for certain tourist groups to attract more visitors.
Mr. Mehra further added that there is no mention of rationalization of taxes and giving export industry status to Tourism industry in the union budget, which is a long pending demand of IATO based on the foreign exchange earnings. These are old pending demands of IATO and Mr. Mehra is hopeful, these will be considered favourably by the GST Council.