Union Budget 2021-22 Expectations for Hospitality sector: Union Budget 2021 ‘is expected to be truly reformative’, says OYO India’s CEO Rohit Kapoor! Expectations related to the upcoming Union Budget 2021 are high across sectors, given the impact the previous year’s coronavirus pandemic and lockdown had on the entire country – in terms of health, wealth and people’s overall mental and physical well being, besides the challenge of finding sustainable solutions to revive the travel and hospitality segment.

2021 Union Budget: Focus on growth oriented measures

Sharing his Budget 2021 expectations exclusively with Financial Express Online, Rohit Kapoor, CEO, OYO – India & South Asia, says, “This year’s Union Budget is expected to be truly reformative given the unpredictable circumstances we are presently in. As the entire country prepares for the upcoming budget, a focus on growth-oriented measures, economic reforms and inclusive growth will be critical to bring the COVID-battered economy back on track.”

For too long, the travel and hospitality industry have been struggling with the perilous nature of the pandemic that instilled in people, a disturbing fear of stepping out. What if the pandemic now paves the way for the government to take decisive steps for boosting domestic travel?

Budget 2021 expectations for domestic travel and tourism

“With turbulent economic recovery trends, we expect further streamlining of regulations in the travel, tourism and hospitality industries to spur greater demand amongst domestic and international travellers for accommodations. We are hopeful for some financial support/stimulus package, rationalization of taxes/uniform taxation, an extension of the moratorium period so that our small hotel partners can benefit from the required working capital to sustain these challenging times and thereby, meet their operational costs, retain jobs and boost domestic tourism, an integral contributor towards India’s robust revival story,” Rohit Kapoor highlights Budget 2021 expectations exclusively with Financial Express Online, with emphasis on domestic travel and hospitality.

Budget 2021 expectations: Optimistic outlook! Sustainable road map for revival necessary!

As the country’s hospitality and travel segment reopened following months of stringent lockdown measures, many were found dithering about the future as recovery hopes looked dim as people’s movements remained restricted. However, with the measures becoming relaxed across the country and more Indians keen to travel to hilly and beach destinations as well as pilgrimage centres like Puri, Haridwar, Shirdi, Varanasi, the first glimmer of a positive outlook began to shine for India’s travel and hospitality horizon.

Budget 2021 expectations: Foster a culture of innovation using emerging technologies in hospitality

Setting the broad context in terms of expectations for the upcoming Budget, OYO CEO Rohit Kapoor concludes, “Technology continues to play an enabling role in opening doors to new industries and new roles, most notably in fintech, food tech, ridesharing, e-commerce deliveries, education, logistics and now in hospitality. The government should continue to promote entrepreneurship to foster a culture of innovation using emerging technologies like making regulatory processes easier and offering incentives to those who set up their start-ups in remote towns.”