"FHRAI has stepped up its efforts in this regard. We have already taken up the issue with various organisations, including travel agents and airlines.The council will also include representatives from CII, Ficci and Assocham," he added.

Mehra, who recently took over as the president of FHRAI, said that getting the export and infrastructure industry status for hotels would figure high on his agenda.

He said that though government perceives sectors like industry, trade and communication as the main economic activities, tourism, which is a significant engine for economic development, is not givenequal importance."Hotels being treated at par with exporters will eliminate the serious inroads that have been made into the bottomline of hotels due to the high taxation both by central and state governments," he added.

Mehra said that although the Rakesh Mohan Committee for infrastructure development recommended hotels to be included as part of infrastructure, the government has so far not accepted this recommendation.

He said FHRAI will also work to get tourism on the concurrent list to remove the difficulty of getting land at reasonable prices due to varying land policies of state governments.

Mehra said that the association will also work in creating awareness towards tourism and also make an effort to get the tourism advisory committee of Parliament involved in the problems of tourism so that the advocacy of tourism is supported in a strong way to the concerned government bodies and Parliament itself.

The association will also pursue its efforts to get certain airports as international airportsso that charters and international airlines can land thereby increasing tourist traffic.