(TAN): The Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) said foreign tourist arrivals in India have dropped around 67% annually while numbers for domestic tourists have gone down by nearly 40% in the January to March quarter, as per data from the country’s tourism ministry.
The ICC, based in Kolkata, is a top body of business and industry in India.
The organisation said the effect of the pandemic is weakening the country’s tourism and hospitality industry at an extremely fast rate
Director General of ICC Rajeev Singh reportedly said hotel occupancy rate and average daily rates (ADRs) for the whole year could go down owing to the coronavirus outbreak, while most travel businesses hit by the crisis are looking for assistance to sustain themselves for at least half a year.
“Disruption due to coronavirus could result in 18-20% erosion of nationwide occupancy across the hospitality sector, and 12-14% drop in average daily rates (ADRs) for the entire 2020,” he was quoted by Press Trust of India as saying.
“Most of the tourism companies afflicted by the pandemic are now anxiously looking for interim relief to pay EMIs, taxes and salaries to employees for at least six months,” Singh added.
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The tourism sector accounted for 6.8% of India’s Gross Domestic Product in 2019, and created 39.8 million jobs or 8% of all employment in the country during the year, according to data from the World Travel & Tourism Council.
The Reserve Bank of India recently announced a range of fiscal measures to combat the economic effects of the pandemic, including permitting the banks and non-banking lenders to offer moratorium on all term loans for up to three months, reports said. The ICC reportedly recommended India’s central bank to extend the three-month period of the moratorium to six months.
The ICC also suggested a moratorium of six to nine months on all principal and interest payments on loans and overdrafts, apart from postponement of advance tax payments.
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The industry body also advised the central government a “complete Goods and Services Tax (GST) holiday for tourism, travel and hospitality industry for the next 12 months till the time the recovery happens”.
The ICC also recommended creation of a “Travel & Tourism Stabilisation Fund” with direct benefit transfer to each unit to avoid monetary loss and resulting job loss.
It also suggested that the priority for all stakeholders would be to ”
bring back the confidence of the tourists to visit India” after the country recovers from the crisis.
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