Budget 2016: Travel experts tell us how India can attract more tourists

We are hopeful that the upcoming budget will be encouraging for the tourism industry as it has been over the last couple of years. Travel and tourism sector makes significant contribution to the economy in terms of revenue and job creation and a positive budget allocation for this sector will only mean more contribution to the GDP, increase in employment and India’s positive image on global tourism map.

Travel Infrastructure and Safety are the two aspects that need urgent attention by the government. Tourist safety is a major concern in some states as some gruesome incidents came to the fore in the last couple of months. Spending on security should be increased at prominent tourist destinations.

There should be focus on improving infrastructure such as hotels, road and rail connectivity to major tourist destinations to promote domestic tourism. There needs to be focus on improved sanitation and hygiene on main road routes and at heritage sites. Facilities like parking, access for disabled, tourist interpretation centres and security should be reinforced t prominent tourist destinations and heritage sites.

Tax structure has been a contentious topic for a while now and getting clarity is what the tourism industry is eagerly awaiting. Relaxation in tax norms is something the industry has been looking forward to for quite some time now. There should be tax exemption for adventure tourism, medical tourism and on-line travel aggregators.

Strong marketing initiatives should be looked at to market brand India on global level. India is probably one of the few countries that is teeming with diversity and can be promoted in more way than one to attract tourist and travellers from all corners of the world.

The focus should be on creating the demand by showcasing India as business-friendly and traveller friendly destination. Medical tourism is another aspect that can be a boon for the industry and steps need to be taken to enable swift visa clearances for medical tourist.

After the implementation of e-visas and visa on arrival for international tourist, government should look at working holiday visas and associate with developed and developing countries to promote two way flow of tourist and travellers. It is a two year programme and provides an opportunity for visitors to travel and work part time to fund their travel.

The government should focus on incentivising and promotion of online payments by offering tax rebates to consumers making use of digital payment options.

There should also be tax advantages to merchants who make high value transactions mandatory to be made digitally. This will also result in curbing the black money issue that the government is trying to tackle. There still seems to be an ambiguity with regard to the taxation on some of the service led online companies. We expect that there will be more clarity and simple taxation framework in place to address this issue. Also, with the Make in India campaign, there are ample opportunities created but with that the need for stringent laws to follow it are important.

Largely the budget should provide a shot in the arm for tourism industry in India and take India on the top of travellers’ wish-list.

(The article is authored by Ashish Kashyap, Group CEO, ibibo Group)

(Image: Indiatimes)