14th August 2021,

To All Members,

Subject:  Record note of discussion of IATO Members Interactive Meeting on Monday, the 2nd August 2021 at 5 pm on Zoom

Dear Members,

Please find the Record note of discussion of IATO Members Interactive Meeting held on Monday, the 2nd August 2021 at 5 pm on Zoom ( Placed below)

With regards

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Record note of discussion of IATO Members Interactive Meeting on the 2nd of August 2021 at 5pm over Zoom

Mr Rajnish Kaistha welcomed all, called the house to order and requested Mr Rajiv Mehra to offer the Keynote address.

Mr Rajiv Mehra welcomed all and put forward that first task after the elections was to cater to the key issues facing the membership which are pending and were of big concern for the members. He dwelled the issue of SEIS, one-time financial support, ECLGS, withdrawal of TCS, resumption of E-Tourist Visa on reciprocal basis & resumption of International flights, Covid 19 vaccination for Tourism frontline workers, to remove clause of minimum foreign exchange earning of Rs. 2 crores in Revised MDA Guidelines Effective from 1st January 2021, renewal of Guidelines for Recognition of Tourism Service Providers by the Ministry of Tourism and Linking of IATO Website with Incredible India website for getting leads/queries by the MoT recognised tour operators. These issues were raised to by writing letters to Hon’ble Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Commerce Minister, DGFT, SEPC, RBI, Niti Aayog directly and through Ministry of Tourism and also raised at various platforms and during personal meetings.

An appointment with Hon’ble Finance Minister materialised on 16th July in her office over a one to one meeting. SEIS, TCS, Cascading effect of GST on Tourism Industry, export industry status to the tourism industry, problems in getting loan by tour operators were discussed. She gave a very patient hearing and assured to look into the issues. Mr. GD. Lohani, Joint Secretary (TRU) was also present in the Meeting. We requested the Hon’ble Minister not to reduce percentage of SEIS and also there should be no capping.

The new tourism minister Shri G. Kishan Reddy was met on 8th July 2021 and all these issues were also addressed to him.

IATO formed a Covid -19 Assistance Task Force to help our members who needed help. The task force comprising of Mr Rajnish Kaistha, Mr Sanjay Razdan, Mr Sunil Mishra, Mr Harish Mathur, Mr Manoj Matta, Mr Deepak Bhatnagar, Mr Vishal Yadav, Mr. Vijayasarathy and Ashok Dhoot offered their great help 24x7 to the Members whoever approached them. Mr. Najeeb extended support to many of our members which was exceptional.  On behalf of all the members Mr Mehra thanked all of them for their generosity.

New State Chapters were opened i.e. Ladakh and Uttarakhand. We had new Regional Chapter Chairmen in Southern Region and new Chapter chairs in Maharashtra, Kerala & Lakshadweep and appointed Co-Chairmen and state in-charge in states/UT like Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar and Sikkim, Manipur and Tripura to expand IATO and make it stronger in each state. Our Special focus for the Chapters is to increase membership base to make IATO stronger and the voice of the industry. 20 new membership applications have come and he thanked the Co-Chair Varanasi as majority new membership applications came from Varanasi.

All these we have been updating the members through our weekly, now fortnightly reports by the Hony. Secretary.

Though not conveyed in writing due to the sensitivity of the matter, Mr Mehra said that on unforeseen death of a member and the case put forward by the 2-member committee appointed by the EC, IATO will write to the members soliciting financial support to the family. On the amount collected IATO would add Rs 25000/-  and the cheque will be sent to the spouse of the deceased member. We do have one case and the written approval from the 2 member committee is awaited, once we get the required action will follow. He as Hony. Secretary of FAITH took this issue to FAITH and the hotel associations have offered help in giving employment to the spouse/ family member of the deceased in one of the units of their various members in the same city where the family is residing.  

He requested Mr Kaistha to offer the in house announcements.

Mr Kaistha said that he would deliberate on the revival of the industry, regenerating business with E Visa, International Flight Operations and the problems members are facing. Many countries are not still allowing India. In Delhi the gathering allowed in hotels have now increased to 100 from 50. Ever since the new EC has taken over we have made several representations to the key authorities and have met them and raised major issues being faced by our members. Many are on the verge of a successful logical conclusion. IATO has rrequested MOT GOI that all Dekho Aapna Desh webinars should be translated to key foreign languages and uploaded on MOT Website. Through our missions abroad they should be shown to the trade in our source markets. All the pending cases for renewal may be cleared as per the revised guidelines where physical inspection is not required. IATO requested for the waiver of the SEPC Membership Renewal Fee for the financial year 2021-22. Follow up with Air India for refunds to our members in an ongoing process. We have rrequested MoT to provide Real Time update on MOT Website regarding State Policies on Travel Restrictions due to Covid -19 and also to fill up of the vacant post of Regional Director, Indiatourism South.

IATO has urged Principal Secretary Tourism and Chairman, RTDC, Government of Rajasthan, on the Pending Refunds and Levy of cancellation charges for Palace on Wheels and Wildlife Safaris of Ranthambore. Similarly, we also wrote to Principal Secretary Tourism, Maharashtra for refund of Deccan Odyssey. In this context we also requested and sought the help of Mr. Arvind Singh, Secretary (Tourism) to get refunds of advance payments made for various bookings for foreign tourists and cancelled due to Covid -19 pandemic.

Our Media coverage in National Main line media and others has emerged as one of our biggest success story. It is unprecedented. On all these the members are informed through our fortnightly reports. Mr Kaistha requested members to offer their inputs.

On IATO’s feedback, Scheme to incentivise FTOs / Indian Tour operators who would get tourists under CSSS was launched by MOT. However, we have requested for certain amendments. We have made suggestions for inclusion of more countries (Bangladesh and Srilanka are not included in the list) and remove clause of requirement of boarding pass etc. President IATO spoke to senior officials in the ministry and he was given to understand that the countries which have been picked by MOT are those from where the business has either declined or is stagnant for the last two years. This is a pilot project and will be reviewed after one year.

The 5 lakh free visa announcement was welcome step. IATO has requested that this be extend till 31st March 2023.

Mr Mehra mentioned that On Air India refund we had asked our Members to advise who has not got it, 34 persons replied back. They are to advise on their IATA Number and the amount due as he is working it out with Air India on some kind of a solution. Only 8 or 9 have given their details. He requested the rest to answer the 3 questions asked as he is likely to meet Air India to take up this issue of refund to IATO Members.

Mr Kaistha then opened the discussion to the house.

Mr Sanjay Basu said on ECLGS it's important for IATO to write to the Finance Ministry to ask them to extend all moratoriums for two years, at least till January 2023 as nobody will have the capacity to really pay in 2022. We need to tell the government that the ECLGS funds must also be opened up for companies who did not have debt. The government has enhanced the three lakh crores to four and a half lakh crores, which means that they have deployed enough money there and only 2.6 or 2,7 cross has been made available. The government should open it up that in case some companies need to take a further loan as ECLGS 5 or 6 whatever be the nomenclature, they should be allowed to do so because as per the latest scheme the 10 lakh rupees is not going to meet the expenses of many companies for even one month and this should be enhance by another 20% from the present. To this Mr Mehra added that all these ECLGS or loans are for all trade, they are not restricted to the tourism industry only. If they have to identify it only for the tourism industry, it sometimes can be very tricky situation as if they do it, for one, there are other 10 other sectors which will come up. Mr Basu further said that ECLGS 3.0 is specifically for tourism and hospitality sector & Entertainment. Whatever addition to the scheme, they offer they can link it to ECLGS 3.0 in which there is a two-year moratorium. ECLGS 1.0 could be taken in par with the 3.0, they could just be dovetailed, it will be a simple mechanism for them to do so.

Mr Sanjay Thakur wanted to know if the fees for SEIS for new registrations has been waived off. To this Mr Kaistha said that it has not been waived off. For new registration they have to pay, we are talking with them for renewal only Mr Mehra mentioned. Mr Thakur further said that the champions sector scheme criteria of the 100 tourists per quarter per FTO, is it feasible, for small tour operators? and more so in the northeast where business is seasonal. Mr Mehra agreed it is difficult, this is a pilot scheme. What we are trying is that instead of 1 FTO we have 5 FTOs in Germany can we combine them together for small tour operators. He reiterated and agreed on the points raised by Mr Basu and sought an action by IATO. Mr Mehra put forward that we shall communicated on these line to the concerned authorities shortly.

Mr Vivek Angra mentioned that the implementation of CSSS is not practical. First of all, CSSS goes directly to the foreign tour operators, the incentive should be to Indian Tour Operators The anomaly is further seen when someone who is only doing ticketing from Netherlands or from Sri Lanka to India he will have probably a thousand people per quarter so that ticketing agent gets his ticketing markup plus the CSSS incentive by selling tickets. The drafting of the scheme thus has loop holes. The incentive should be given on the Foreign Exchange earned for the country. It will be very difficult to withdraw once given by just citing it as a pilot scheme. A tourist can be mentioned in 2 or 3 operators list, how to check that? To this Mr Mehra said that there is a condition that the detailed itinerary of the trip has to be attached with the ticket and this itinerary has the details of Hotels, sightseeing etc. This is for Inbound Tours where a packaging is done. We have written to MOT already that it should be only for the Indian tour operators recognized by the Ministry of tourism and not for the Foreign Tour Operators. Getting boarding passes will be very difficult for any one of us, moreover the question is that once a client has traveled to India how that foreign tour operator can get his passport copy with the India immigration stamp and the boarding pass. The Indian Tour Operator would still have managed to get the arrival stamp sheet from the passport on arrival into India definitely but that foreign agent will not be able to get it. The foreign tour operators will not be able to get that piece of paper because no client will speak or give those documents to the FTO after his return to this country of origin. Mr Mehra requested Mr Angra to give his recommendations so that it can be collated with those from other IATO members and addressed to the authorities.

Saurabh Mahajan put forward a recommendation if the free visa can be implemented at the airports itself rather than at the Visa issuing offices. This will ensure that the person getting the visa is actually coming to India and only then he should get the refund. Secondly Singapore and Malaysia have this incentive scheme for foreign tour operators which works very well, so there is something that they're doing correct there and it can work for us as well we shouldn't look at that the inbound agent should get the incentive only, maybe it can be structured better and maybe only four MICE or larger segments. The larger players today who owe money to allied partners who are handling agents, they are asking for some haircuts in those dues. Are we taking any steps for that? To this Mr Mehra said that as far as excursion agents and their money is concerned, we have written a number of times to all our Members to clear all the dues as soon as possible, they say that our money is stuck with the hotels. The hotels say that the tour operators have not paid their dues. We have written to Faith, have escalated the case to the Secretary Tourism also. Our members have not paid the hotels, the former says that their money is stuck with the foreign agents, so it is a circle. Free visa on arrival is not possible. There will be no check at the boarding point. IATO agents should be be there to look after them and their name has to be mentioned in the visa form. MOH said that it should be handled by MOT recognized tour operators and we wrote back that it should be all IATO agents. It has to be a package tour with all details and checks and balances Mr Kaistha added.  

Mr Prateek Hira talked about his imparting training to IFS officers on tourism as the Indian high commissions abroad will also be our brand ambassadors for Tourism. He mentioned about the On Line membership form, a point he had addressed earlier.  Secondly the change from Allied to Active category there is a rule in it where approval of recognition from Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India should be 2-year-old and effective as on date, but then, if a Member has been there for long and the approval is new, what is the logic of this two year cooling period. Another point is that the Ministry has come up with the Green shoot recognition of operators who are in the startup category, but that is not moving at all. He agreed with Mr Angra that the CSSS should be studied in detail before putting up any recommendation. To the above Mr Kaistha put forward that the Members who had been there for more than long we're doing away with the two years’ criteria, MOT approval is mandatory, we take them on active and that is how it's going on for the future. It is a very valid point once MOT has approved we go for it. As regards the Online Form, it is just delayed by a week. Mr Mehra opined that Ambassador's being aware of tourism and its promotion is a very good step. As regards the Online Forms it should be implemented by the 13th of August, the committee is working on it. With respect to green shoots there are certain cases pending. Mr Zia Siddiqui had spoken with the concerned authorities on Sunday,2nd August, itself, and they had promised that on Monday, that is, today 3rd August, they will start going into all of them and try and clear as many cases as they can.

Mr N S Rathor said that over 100 crores the principal agents from Delhi owe to the handling agents. There are around 50 to 60 such Principal Agents. That they have not received their money from the hotels for some it is true but not in general and we are not in a position to pay our transporters.  IATO has to intervene in the matter and tell the Principal Agents to at least be in communication with the handling agents. Mr Mehra requested all the excursion agents to send IATO the names of the Principal Agents who are not paying, IATO will speak to them and the names of the excursion agents who would send the list to IATO Office will not be disclosed and IATO will follow up one by one.

Mr. Sutanu Banerjee said that there is a need to have a Finance Committee in IATO. It is much more practical to think and look at what alternatives can be done for the Members. Activities of merger, M&A, or maybe amalgamation of market for future - these things need to come through a kind of a pipeline.

Mr Lally Mathews said since we have a task force in place, which along with the chapter and the regional heads can form a certain camp and get the tourism drivers, the guides, airport reps vaccinated so that to the FTOs we can say that our Tourism Frontline workers are vaccinated.

Mr Raghu wanted to know by when can one expect the SEIS to come through, a time limit, a date from the government is needed. Mr Mehra mentioned that all efforts are in place but DGFT has put on hold all the schemes. In our meeting with the Finance Minister we expressed that even after the 2000 crores that has been sanctioned, the tourism and hospitality industry will be in bad shape because most of our Members have spent this money already in 2019 in their promotional exercise and also giving rebates to different operators to come to India, instead of going to the neighboring countries. We are asking for the recovery of money which our members have spent. We have given in writing that a particular sum is due for the tourism industry and may please be sanctioned separately. Simultaneously we are also working on that there is no reduction in the percentage sought and there is no cap. On response to Mr Raghu, Mr Mehra said individually one is free to file an RTI.

Mr James said we need to speak to the Ministry of Home and ask them to declare a date for opening of the visa maybe November or December, in-between they are free to revisit it. At least people would be prepared, the FTOs for at least for those countries who have already started accepting Indians like Russia, Srilanka and others. When lot of people are moving within the country why the borders are not being opened? IATO can create a Finance Cell where all these various announcements by the Reserve Bank of India, ECLGS, Rs 15000 Cr Repo Rate Scheme, Rs 10 Lakhs to Tour Operators Scheme are discussed and members can approach the cell and know as to how to approach for these schemes, the requirements and other formalities, help members when Banks are unduly delaying the justified dues. Facilitating members to collect money from one another may not be the right thing to do from the association point of view. To this Mr Mehra opined that as far as the international borders are concerned we are in touch with the ministry on this issue and a meeting is supposed to take place anytime now between the Home, Health, Civil Aviation and Tourism. We have also put forward that RTPCR requirements, especially for those who have taken both the shots should not be there by any state. As regards the finance inputs to members is concerned, whatever questions are being sent to us are being answered by the IATO EC to everyone. As far as the financial matters with the ministry are concerned, we are doing it, we are taking inputs from the EC and are capable of handling it. Post the Parliament Session our efforts will again be aggressively done on all fronts. Another problem is that the country from where we expect the business to come should not have any quarantined restrictions, our tourism industry through the External Affairs Ministry is working on. So NO RTPCR TEST for those vaccinated within India, abroad especially from our source countries, they should be allowed back, if they are double vaccinated, without any restrictions. Mr. James interjected and put forward that our members are not aware of the finance schemes, they do not know how to avail it, IATO Finance Cell should step in and tell the members the Pros and Cons of the various schemes. Mr. Mehra opined that many who do not have the means of returning back the money they do not want to take money on loan to pay their staff. The Finance Minister in the meeting with IATO said that instructions are being sent to all banks that there should not be any harassment to the tourism sector and this he has conveyed to Mr James off line. Mr James as Chapter Chair can call a Banker and educate the members there. Mr. Najeeb said request SBI so that some officer from Delhi who's looking after this portfolio to come and address all members about the schemes and how easily we can get it. Mr Mehra said announcements are different but when it comes to practicality things are different. As regards the Finance Cell we have to hire some chartered accountant, some banker who can answer these, if you expect that someone from EC or some other Members can answer the question then this will never happen.

Mr. Navneet Arora wanted to know how many of us are actually members of SEIS, how many of us are approved by Ministry of Tourism, Govt of India and what is the MSME Status. IATO does not talk about How, When, what is going to happen to others. Like PATA has said that Tourism will not start till 2023 as Vaccination process is very slow. To this Mehra said that we have about 1700 members out of which there are just 300 Members who are benefited with the SEIS. We are in touch with concerned officers as to when a decision to announce the date for opening up of borders will happen, we have to clear the RTPCR problem in our country and the country of origin, where people are being quarantined on return. Government has started working on these. IATO has taken up with the government in June and in July there are many states which have said that if you are vaccinated you can travel freely. Now the government is talking with the other countries like they have been talking to UK to downgrade the alert position there, so that everyone returning from India should not be quarantined if he's got both of doses and this is even for their nationals. As far as the committee for financials, we have to look into it, have some specialized people who can answer these questions, making a committee of our Members will not solve this problem because none of us are expert in those fund matters, we have to have someone who is an expert on the subject and whatever he says is based on the facts of the law. The funds from the Govt of India to finance the MDA Scheme of MOT GOI has still not been approved. This is for all ministries. We are fighting the battle 24x7, we are not looking into loans only we're looking into a SEIS we're looking into opening up of borders we're into TCS and all other relevant issues. Our note has been put up on 2% GST on our packages to be to be sent to the GST Council, so that there is no double taxation. Everything is informed to our members through our Fortnightly Reports. It is very important, please read the reports and you will know what your association is doing for you, if  you read them most of the questions will be answered. Mr Kaistha added that the government has yet to approve the vaccine passport on which the Ministry of Health is still working on.

Mr. Jayendra Singh Nayal Complimented Mr Mehra and Mr Sarkar for approaching the finance Minister and added that who are not paying their handling agents must be made answerable.

Mr. Abhishek Sankrit mentioned that the 10 lakh rupees’ loan to tour operators was with a collateral but anyone else in India, if you want to apply for a 10 lakh rupees no collateral can be asked as per the RBI norms from any one, and this is not industry specific. There is a special credit guarantee scheme, under this scheme up to one crore rupees’ loan can be taken with 1% extra insurance charge of CDT MSC with no collateral but practically we face a lot of problems when we go to the ground. For 25 lakhs rupees’ loan which he took it for his agriculture based business, he is getting a 25% subsidy, that means his 25% risk is taken back by the government, even 35% subsidy available for woman, so why not this capacity can be provided to tourism, we can request, at least, because if that 35 or 25% subsidy can be given even on 10 lakh rupees or 25 lakh rupees it could really help all the small Members. If 25 to 35% subsidy can be given under PMBGP scheme to a very new person who is new in business then why not to the old people and why not to Tourism that's one point of question which we can raise in front of the government and if there is a policy without collateral, loan can be provided, but banks do not provide that and it causes a lot of difficulty. We find that sometimes there is a problem of not knowing about this scheme, if a committee at the state level can be made under the Chapters Chairman, the committee members can help each other by their knowledge and it will not be limited to only financial. It will help IATO to be more approachable, reach a new level and interact with small members in an even better way. Mr Mehra added that we are encouraging Chapter Chairs to have their coordination meeting with the members in their state once in 2 months. The first round of meetings of Chapter Chairs and Regional Chapter Chairmen have already taken place, except for one Chapter Chair and that will also be soon.

Mr Pandian requested to get the approval for all IATO members, recognized by MOT GOI to get eligibility to become a GeM. At GeM portal he has been rejected for car service. Last financial year statistics chart shows Two thousand five hundred and eight four crores in one year only from car services. If all our members get some share it will aid in survival. Contact GeM. Ask a GeM officer to explain to all our members on how to become a member of GeM portal. The eligibility criteria is the question mark. The need is to get approval from Ministry of Commerce for all our members to be a GeM service provider. It is all online. Then every member can do a minimum of Rs 10 Crore in the next one year. To this Mr Mehra put forward that this question was raised in the last meeting also by him and he and Mr Debjit Dutta were asked in the last meeting to let IATO know as to the name of the concerned officer to whom we should write, where we have to apply and what will be the content of the letter. This information was requested for in May. He has reminded him and Mr Dutta on the subject but no communication is there so far on the subject. The letter that IATO will send will be shown to Mr Pandian first, get his consent and then only it will go to the concerned authority. Mr Sarkar asked Mr Rahul Chakravarty to take out those letters already written to the ministries on the request on Mr Pandian before and coordinate this with the new application.

Mr. Ranga Reddy said that to increase the membership of the IATO instead of keeping the minimum two years of the starting of the agency, if you reduce it to one year, then we can try and get more members into the Allied Category. Echoing what Mr Rathor had said, the outstanding issue by the parent companies in metro cities is becoming a challenging one. Is it possible for IATO to raise this issue with the Ministry of tourism, because they're all the big

agencies, which are approved by the Ministry of Tourism. Have the next EC Meeting at one of the reputed monuments. To this Mr Mehra said that a circular will go to all IATO members to clear their outstanding with the excursion agents and by 14th of August all excursion agents to let IATO know the names of the Principal Agents from whom the payments are due. This will be in total confidence. The names of the excursion agents will not be disclosed except perhaps to the EC as all correspondence goes to the EC. As IATO we cannot hold any meeting at any monument. The Ministry of tourism is working out for one monument, most probably Mahabalipuram which has been shortlisted for that, it might happen in October end or first /second week of November. Mr Reddy mentioned that MOT Recognized agency can avail Rs 50,000/- loan for developing E Brochure, this is not clear from their Website, hence clarity on this is needed as to the content, how much MB or GB is allowed? Mr Mehra said that The guideline of the Govt is with respect the money part only. They will pay 50% of the cost of the E brochure with a maximum ceiling of Rs 50,000/-.

Mr Najeeb thanked everyone for the very good discussions and suggestions in this unprecedented marathon meeting – all for our survival. We need to move together and revive.

The meeting ended with thanks to the Chair.