The latest white paper by hospitality consultancy HVS India and World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has pointed out that in next 10 years, the Indian hospitality sector will need an additional supply of 180,000 rooms, a capital investment of $25.5 billion for constructing them and manpower of 211,000 to operate these additional hotels.
From the current 810 million travelers, both domestic and international, India is slated to host 1,747 million travellers in 2021. The report, commissioned by the ministry of tourism, highlights the policy expectations of the hotel and travel sector from the government.
Some of the key policy changes mentioned in the white paper include grant of infrastructure status to the industry, hotel sector to be included within the interest subvention schemes and rationalisation of taxes which includes service tax, luxury tax, VAT/sales tax, tax on transportation etc.
The report also suggests building of public-private partnerships (PPP) for the conservation of heritage sites, setting up of single nodal agency for all hotel project approvals and higher budgetary allocation for tourism by the state governments. ?Ministry of tourism does not have much teeth when it comes to many of these policies, it?s the finance ministry and home ministry that has it. So we were asked by the ministry of tourism to carry out this research. Its an active paper and we will soon be making the presentation to the minister of tourism,? Manav Thadani of HVS India told FE.
WTTC predicts that by 2021, global travel would reach 1,362 million travelers. India, according to WTTC, is expected to account for 0.8% of those travelers or 11.1 million international travelers.
To boost tourism the report says that the 60-day re-entry to India clause should be withdrawn, as majority of tourists use India as a base to travel to other South Asian countries and the clause restricts them, hampering India?s demand for South Asian circuit. ?All these expectations from the government are of vital importance for the stakeholders of the tourism sector in India,? said Vikram Madhok, chairperson, WTTC, India Initiative.