An industry report has suggested measures like setting up a National Tourism Authority, increasing budget allocation to the tourism sector, lower GST slabs and increasing application window for e-visa to 6 months from 1 month.
The FICCI-YES Bank report, titled India in-bound tourism: The next growth trajectory, also urged the government to promote hassle-free travel to India by marking e-visas to more countries and recommended that it should finalise and announce the tourism policy this year itself.The draft had been prepared in 2015 and was distributed to the stakeholders for their inputs.
“The policy will provide right impetus and direction to the state tourism policies as well. Furthermore, it will ensure fast-paced implementation of several key initiatives and institutional reforms proposed in the Draft Tourism Policy,” FICCI said.Going by recent reports, India may emerge as a key player in the global tourism landscape in the next decade. India jumped 12 positions to the 40th spot on Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index 2017 released by the World Economic Forum.
The shift suggests that developing and emerging countries are catching up by providing better conditions to develop their travel and tourism competitiveness and getting better prepared to attract millions of new tourists who will travel for the first time in the coming decade.