FAITH Revises Indian Tourism Value at Risk Guidance to ₹ 15 Lakh Cr

‘Now or Never’ Point 

* Worst period ever for tourism in 100 years. 

* Till a vaccine is found, concept of tourism will be in dire threat

* Tourism COVID Support Fund needed

* RBI must give a multi-year moratorium on principal & interest to tourism.  

* Stop the clock on all central & state Government for statutory payments

* 75% value or minimum 9 months of the almost 10% of India’s GDP from Tourism at risk from collapse 

* Generations of tourism businesses and crores of jobs getting impacted

Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality,the policy federation of all the national associations representing the complete tourism, travel and hospitality industry of India (ADTOI, ATOAI, FHRAI, HAI, IATO, ICPB, IHHA, ITTA, TAAI, TAFI) & cause partner AIRDA has further revised upwards it’s value at risk to Indian tourism to ₹ 15 lakh crores. 

FAITH’s first guidance which was calculated and was shared with the Government in March 2020 had put tourism’s economic value at risk at ₹ 5 lakh crores from this pandemic.  FAITH revised this further during the quarter as the situation deteriorated and the value at risk was put at ₹ 10 lakh crores. This has been revised again to touch a value at risk of upto ₹ 15 lakh crores in terms of the economic output of tourism in India 

Given the way the virus is progressing, tourism supply chains have  broken down in India across all its key inbound, domestic & outbound markets and is not expected to recover for the next  5 months too making the total impact to a minimum of 9 months starting from March this year. 

The direct and indirect economic impact of Tourism industry in India is approximately estimated at ~ 10% of India’s GDP.  This roughly puts the full year economic multiplier value of tourism in India at ~ ₹ 20 lakh crores. Minimum three quarters of tourism will be fully impacted 

This value covers the whole tourism value chain from airlines, travel agents, hotels, tour operators, tourism destinations restaurants, tourist transportation, tourist guides. Each of these segments of tourism is non - performing or under performing and will stay that way for many months of this year.

This is evident across all segments of tourism. Pending refunds for travel agents,  shut down or vacant  hotels & restaurants,  empty or locked down conventions and meeting or wedding halls, no order pipelines for tour operators, tourist transport lying locked in parking lots, laid off or leave without pay staff , managers, the summer domestic and outbound holiday season gone,  no visible bookings for the peak October - March season, meetings shifted to virtual apps , non - essential travel closed and so on. 

Be it leisure ( inbound, outbound, domestic) corporate travel, heritage, adventure, meetings incentives, exhibitions & events religious, spiritual and in upcoming high value niche tourism products such as sea & river cruises, camping, rafting, golf  film tourism, jungle tourism, agri tourism and many more across all states, this will the worst performing year for tourism in a century. 

Tourism has one of the largest economic multipliers and FAITH based upon its industry estimates believes that each rupee spent on tourism could have an economic multiplier of upwards of  3- 4 times more for India given its most globally unique natural and cultural heritage spread across the Indian hinterlands. The cumulative job losses for the full year both in organised & unorganised category of tourism could go as high as 4 crores. 

FAITH has been requesting over the past 5 months that for revival of any demand in tourism, it is first important that the survival of tourism businesses in India has to first remain intact. 

Tourism sector requires a very customised sector specific relief package and it cannot be delayed any further,  FAITH spokesperson said.

The following are immediately critical to maintaining the survival of tourism businesses 

* A Tourism fund which can be used by tourism enterprises in India for taking care of their employees. 

* A multi-year moratorium by RBI on principal and interest payments by tourism, travel & hospitalty businesses. 

* An immediate full year waiver of all central and state statutory liabilities be it PF , ESi, income taxes, GST , fixed power and utilities tariffs, property , excise , inter-state tourist transportation taxes and license fees, all without any accumulated or penal interest has to be done immediately. 

* Robust booking payments refund mechanism for travel agents & tour operators from airlines, railways, state tourism parks and other suppliers. 

Only this will keep the Indian tourism track and hospitality industry alive for a revival, it will keep the jobs intact and it will protect the exposure of the banking sector to tourism preventing their loans from becoming NPAs. 

Post the Unlock tourism is seeing some spur, but that too very limited, very  short -  haul  domestic travel and not enough to make any tourism business viable. 

FAITH has already raised requests over the past five months to the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister, to each of the 28 chief ministers , to the RBI, Niti Aayog, to tourism parliamentary panel, ministries of aviation, commerce, Finance and to more than 600 parliamentarians and is closely in coordination with ministry of tourism.  

It has also requested the Parliamentarians to raise the question as to ‘why not tourism’ for sector specific support when tourism industry contributes to pan India jobs across urban & rural, forex , robust IT & GST collections, capex driven GDP & so on. 

Tourism is a very unique business and is a discretionary activity.  Tourism is a means of unwinding, letting oneself immerse in local experiences. With each aspect of the travel journey now under the threat of virus from contact, this puts tourism at risk. Till the time there is a vaccine found, the very concept of tourism will be in question.  

This will be reflected in all data points of the Government whether in GST collections, banking data, PF, ESI or state level fixed charges. 

Tourism cannot be treated economically like any other business and needs NOW a Fiscal & Monetary structured package coordinated among all arms of Governments. 

The whole value chain of Indian tourism will be under threat - which catered to almost 10.8 million incoming foreign travellers , almost 1.8 billion Indian domestic tourism visits, almost 5 mn- + expats Indians visiting back,  almost 28 mn + outbound travelling Indians & almost $ 29 bn + forex earnings.

Terrorists attacked Taj Mahal likely to be fully functional by end 2009

Indian Hotels on Sunday said it expects to partially open Taj Mahal Palace in February and the entire hotel by end of 2009.

"The north block of the Heritage wing of the hotel is expected to be ready by February 2009 while the south block will be ready by end of next year," Indian Hotels Vice Chairman R K Krishna Kumar said.

On November 26, terrorists attacked Taj hotel and occupied the fifth and sixth floor of the Heritage wing.

The south side of the hotel came under heavy fire. "The fifth and sixth floor have been damaged by the attack. The Wasabi and Harbour Bar have been completely gutted," he said.

The company is in talks with four interior decorators out of which one would be selected for renovation of the hotel.

"This gives us an opportunity to work on it and redefine the Presidential suite. There would be new facilities and new designs and would bring something new to the world," Kumar said.

"The tower wing which opened for guests today has been cleansed of evil among other things. All the rooms and the kitchen have been fully cleaned and sanitised by an international agency," he said.

Religious rites of various faiths have been performed inside the hotel, he said.

The Taj hotel has an insurance cover of Rs 1,000 crore and the first instalment has been received without the company claiming for it.

"Our hotel is widely covered. The renovation would be below the limit of the insurance cover. Even before a formal claim was made, we received the first instalment cheque," Kumar said.

All Taj employees have undergone counselling sessions post the attack. In addition to this, the employees have also been trained to be on alert, he said.

The artwork in the hotel would be restored. "Curators have looked at the artworks. About 90 per cent of the artwork is untouched and the remaining have been damaged due to bullet marks but are not beyond redemption," Kumar said.

One piece of art with a bronze framework, 'Tree of Life' which is about seven feet high and had been placed on the sixth floor has not suffered any damage.

"The artwork would now be placed at the lobby of the hotel as a memorial and the names of the 31 persons who lost their lives in the hotel would be engraved on it," Kumar said.

With regard to security in the hotel, Kumar said the company would ensure that it has better security measures than airports in the country which had turned into fortresses.

"We would not be 100 per cent secure but we would be technologically smarter and better trained," he said.

Metal detectors have been installed and baggages will be thoroughly checked. "At the instance of (Tata Sons Chairman) Ratan Tata, we had approached the most premium agency in combating terrorism for advice regarding security measures," Kumar said, refusing to divulge the name of the agency.

"Taj has been legendary for its rooms and restaurants since 105 years now there will be a third dimension to it- security," he said.

Kumar further said that in September a general alert had been issued to all hotels in the city following which certain security measures had been taken, but there was no specific time period given about the attack.

Metal detectors were installed following the alert with baggage checks and frisking of guests at the entrance of the hotel.

"After two months, we reduced the security due to complaints of inconvenience from the guests," Kumar said.

When asked if the hotel would prohibit entry of guests from any other country, Kumar said, it cannot operate in isolation but in compliance with what the government decides.

Source: Agencies