DEL/0572020                                                                 3^rd August 2020 

Shri Piyush Goyal 

Honable Minister of Commerce and Industry 

Udyog Bhawan

Government of India

New Delhi

Honble Minister Sir,  

Sub: SEIS benefits to Tour Operators - help grow Foreign Tourists arrivals, Earn Valuable Foreign Exchange and an Engine for Economic Growth and Employment Generation for the Country 

Greetings from IATO !

I am writing this letter in continuation of my earlier letter dated 17^th July 2020 with our request to pursue announcements of SEIS to the tour operators for financial year 2019-20, which have not been announced by the government so far.

As you are aware, tour operators are playing vital role for the growth of inbound tourism and international tourist arrivals to our country. They are the extended marketing arms for the Ministry of Tourism who generate business through various modes of marketing and promotions throughout the year. They prepare the complete itineraries by scheduling, selecting cities for visits, choice of hotels as per the budget of the clients, selecting transportation vehicles, domestic airlines or train to connect destinations as per the itinerary. Therefore,  they play a key role in developing a destination for  promoting and marketing with years of knowledge and experience. Hence, they play an important role in creating millions of jobs in every nook and corner of our country and support the economic activities, beside earning valuable foreign exchange for the country.

With the help of SEIS benefits tour operators are utilising the funds for following measures to attract foreign tourists to India and increase India’s share of business by counteracting neighbouring countries :-  

1. To give competitive package tours to foreign tour operators/clients to compete with our neighbouring countries and add value for tourists’ products. Considering the expectation of getting SEIS of 2019-20, tour operators have already passed on the added value to their foreign tour operators/tourists in order to compete with other foreign countries/competitors and divert tourists to India.        
2. Door to Door aggressive Overseas Sales Promotion and Marketing through multiple sales tours to various source markets and emerging markets. 
3. Printing of brochure in different foreign languages, create website and online promotion showcasing Indian tourism products, Culture, Heritage, History, best available hotels and palaces.
4. Marketing and promotions through participation in International travel marts/exhibitions/expo and road shows covering all source markets and emerging markets. 
5. Showcasing India by extending Familiarisation Tours in India 
6. Active promotion on Social Media -Web promotions, face book, Instagram, Webinars and so on.

For your information following were the growth of international tourist arrivals to India(source Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India) :- 

*Increase of 14% in 2017 was due to E-visa facility.

**Growth decreased in 2018 and 2019 due to higher GST rate of 28% on Hotel room making it 23% average on tour package cost which was highest in comparison to average 6 to 8 % in South East Asian countries.

*** Decrease in foreign tourist arrivals was due to Covid -19 starting from February, suspension of all international flights and all tourists Visas in January 2020. There are no international tourist arrivals since April 2020 and tourism has come to standstill with zero business, zero billing.

Foreign Exchange earned by the tourism industry since 2017 is as under(source Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India) :-  

Under normal circumstances the sector is predicted to grow at an annual rate of 6.9% to ?32.05 lakh crore (US$450 billion) by 2028 (9.9% of GDP) and Contributes 42.673 million jobs, 8.1% of its total employment, the sector is predicted to grow at an average annual rate of 7.5% as per World Travel and Tourism Council of India. 

Sir, without the support of SEIS benefits tour operators shall not be able to perform and compete with our neighbouring countries and attract more foreign tourists to India. This will result in loss of business, thus losing valuable foreign exchange for the country and loss of jobs.

Under the present circumstances due to Covid-19, tour operators do not have any business since March 2020 and there is no hope to revive business before April 2021 or beyond. All Tour Operators are facing huge challenge to survive and at present without your help and SEIS benefits it is not possible to continue our existence.  

We, therefore, request you for the following:- 

As business of Tour Operators is suffering in the current year and no financial support is extended from anywhere, we request you to  kindly increase SEIS Scrips percentage from 7% to 10% for the tour operators for the year 2019-20. This assistance is the only hope and shall help tour operators for survival and revival. Tour operators are now depending on SEIS benefits for 2019-20 for survival, failing all tour operators may collapse. 

May I request you to kindly intervene personally and extend your help to announce the SEIS Scrips for 2019-20 at the earliest and also to increase SEIS Scrips percentage for the tour operators. We assure you that with this help we shall be able to grow faster than normal and shall contribute for the economic growth of the country once the Covid-19 pandemic is under control. 

If you need any further information, please feel free to contact us. 

Thanking you and with best regards, 

Sincerely, 

Pronab Sarkar

President

(M) 9811102111

Copy to :

Dr. Anup Wadhawan, Secretary Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India

Shri Bidyut Behari Swain, Special Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India

Shri Darpan Jain, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India