Tourism Industry disappointed with the Union Budget

Even though for the first time, Tourism industry has been prominently mentioned by the Hon’ble Finance Minister, yet, I am disappointed because nothing concrete has been announced for tourism.

Also the expectations which we had from the budget this year have not been matched.

Further, we were hoping that the allocation for Overseas Tourism promotion and Publicity including Market Development Assistance (MDA) will be increased from 341 crores but instead of that it has been reduced to 167 crores. This will have an adverse impact on tourism promotion.

We were also hoping that there will be an exemption on GST and other taxes based on foreign exchange earnings. Nothing in this regard has happened.

It was expected that the Finance Minister will announce refund of GST/VAT for tourists in their shopping like Singapore, UK where tourists are refunded their taxes at the airport, but no announcement in this regard has been made.

We are greatly disappointed that the TCS (Tax Collected at Source) has been increased from 5% to 20% on outbound luxury package tours.

This will affect the people who travel abroad for holidays very badly as the cost will become very high, almost prohibitive, as it is the airfare have become very expensive and this tax will make their budget go array. This may perhaps force people to request their friends and relatives abroad to book hotels & packages for them overseas directly, thus depriving an Indian Tour Operators and Travel Agents of their earnings.