The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture has presented its report on draft National Tourism Policy.
Key observations
- Merely drafting a National Tourism Policy is not enough for the development of the tourism sector in the country.
- Observing that ‘vision without action is a day- dream, and action without a vision is a nightmare‘, the panel sought to know from the government the action taken for the creation of the Tourism Council after the inter-ministerial consultations.
- Were any steps taken by the Tourism Ministry regarding its earlier recommendation of including tourism on the Concurrent List?
- Why some 20 States were yet to accord industry status to hospitality projects, and whether anything in this regard has been conveyed by these States to the Centre. As of now only eight States — Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Ker- ala, Karnataka, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand — have accorded industry status to hospitality projects in their regions.
- Projects taking longer than five years may incur high cost and schedule or time overruns, which will put extra financial burden and resource crunch on the Ministry and implementing agencies involved.
Suggestions
- It has suggested fast- tracking the creation of a National Tourism Council on the lines of the GST Council to directly make recommendations to the Union and the State governments.
- Inclusion of tourism on the Concurrent List will help in simplifying the issues of the pandemic hit Indian tourism sector since tourism is a multi-sectoral activity.
Industry status to tourism and benefits
- If tourism is given the status of an industry, then hotels, lodges, resorts and other tourism infrastructure will be eligible for the industrial rates that will give a boost to the industry as the rates are lesser than the commercial rates.
- Concessions given to the industries will become applicable on the tourism related units, helping them to maximize their profits.
- Tourism sector will receive ample amount of private investments due to the new status received which facilitates incentives, subsides, reimbursements etc as per industry policy for the investors and eventually these investments will create new employment opportunities.
