New Delhi, February 04, 2017: “We had very high expectations from this year’s Union Budget for tourism and
hospitality. Based on the Government’s vision for tourism and our hopes were to receive the much needed reduction in taxes which would come into effect in the GST roll-out later this year. Also we had hoped that the government would grant infrastructure status to hotels with a project cost of INR 25 crore as against the present INR 250 crore. But there has been no mention on any of the critical aspects for promoting tourism,” says Mr Dilip Datwani, President, Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI).
“For the hospitality industry the only take-away from the Union Budget 2017 is the 5 per cent tax reduction which is applicable for all MSMEs. Other than that, the Government has announced plans to establish five tourism zones in the next Financial Year with Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) set-up. There is no clarity on what or where the Government plans to execute this project. Despite acknowledging Tourism’s potential in creating a multiplier effect for the economy, the Finance Minister has not really marked out anything significant for its promotion,” says Mr Kamlesh Barot, past President, HRAWI.
“Hospitality as the backbone of Tourism is a big contributor to the Tourism GDP, is the biggest employer and also is one of the biggest generators of Foreign Exchange to the country. It is very disheartening to know that the Union Budget has completely ignored Tourism and Hospitality,” concludes Mr Datwani.
Corporate Comm India(CCI Newswire)
