Industry & Economy
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Tourism
`A leg-up' for tourism trade
Our Bureau
NEW DELHI, Feb. 28
THANKS to a host of incentives given to the tourism industry in the Budget, India can finally hope to compete with the other tourist destinations in this part of the world.
The Chief Operating Officer, Sita Inbound Division, Mr Himmat Anand, felt that the decision to withdraw expenditure tax on the hotels could make India more reasonably priced as compared to what Singapore, Thailand and the neighbouring countries have to offer.
Similarly a spokespersons for the Le Meridien group of hotel felt that the 10 per cent reduction in hotel expenditure tax (HET), which will translate into rooms and services in hotels becoming cheaper will give a major fillip to the tourism industry.
Expressing delight at India being recognised as a health care tourism country by the Finance Minister, the Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group, Dr. Prathap C. Reddy, felt that the move could lead to a two or three fold increase in the foreign exchange being earned by the country.
"The country will generate foreign exchange from two sources. Firstly what is saved as people will get treated here rather than going abroad. And then there will be funds generated from people coming from abroad for treatment," Mr Reddy said. Besides, the move could see a number of foreign investors wanting to invest in this sector, he said.
Further, the decision to focus on convention tourism, with the Government enabling the establishment of two convention centres through public-private partnership, has been welcomed by the Managing Director, ITC Hotels, Mr S.S.H. Rehman, among others. "This initiative will go some way in closing the gap in our tourism infra-structure," he said.
Besides, the restoration of leave travel concession (LTC) facility for the Government employees, is likely to prove a boon for the Indian Railways and the domestic airlines.
However, the decision to raise the rate of service tax from the existing five to eight per cent could see air tickets becoming a bit more expensive, the Managing Director, Amadeus India, Mr Ankur Bhatia, said.
But the President of the Indian Association of Tour Operators, Mr I.S. Wahi, while welcoming several of the Budget announcements, expressed disappointment at the excise levy on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) not being removed.
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