Indian travel and tourism fraternity at large and various travel trade associations such as IATO, TAAI, TAFI, FHRAI, and FHRAI, are joyful and delighted over the government’s announcement to resume regular international commercial flights from March 27 after a long gap of two years.
Expressing optimism and excitement, the sector is hopeful that the move will prove to be a mechanger for increasing the number of foreign tourists visiting the country as the free-tourist visa scheme and air bubble flights had limited penetration to attract travellers to visit the Incredible India, which now looks all set and ready to welcome guests and also start branding and marketing.
At the same time, the industry has further appealed to the government for visa reforms such as increasing the validity of the first five lakh free visas announced by the Union Finance Minister last year, as it nears expiry on March 31. The stakeholders have also requested the government to increase the validity of tourist visas, allow multiple entries instead of single entry applicable currently also most importantly, open e-Visa for the countries like UK and Canada, which have been key tourist source markets for the country pre-covid.
A lot still has to be done to get back to the pre-Covid numbers, but the industry is hopeful that sooner or later, Indian tourism will get back on track and there should not be any further delay or postponement in resuming the scheduled international commercial flights. With this move, the outbound tourism from India is also likely to get a boost with the availability of more options and flights to popular destinations and stabilised airfares, which have been soaring high due to multiple factors – rising crude oil prices, ban on Russian airspace, high VAT on ATF and so on.
Let’s hear from the industry stakeholders and associations with their first reaction to the government’s announcement:
Rajiv Mehra, President, Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), expressing gratitude said that the move is a big relief for the entire travel and tourism fraternity, especially inbound tourism, which had zero billings from the last two years. “We look forward to the revival of international tourism in the country. Further to enhance the foreign tourist flow to the country, we urge the government to restore all visas that were issued earlier but were suspended due to pandemic. Besides we appeal to the government to resume multiple entry visas and e-Visa for the countries which have been barred particularly from the source markets like the UK, Canada, etc. We also request the government to extend the validity of free Tourist Visa till 31st March 2024 without capping of 5 lakh free tourist visas,” he said.
Jyoti Mayal, President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), mentioned, “I would like to applaud the government for finally agreeing to open commercial flights. We have been promised of the opening of e-visa soon. We look forward to the normalcy of our lives, the sector to quickly recover by wooing the traveller and encashing inbound. And also plan for our Indian travellers to have ease of travel, lower costs &andmore choice, as all countries are now removing strict protocols and opening borders before the holiday season kicks off. The industry needs to come back into action and start planning for outbound as the holiday season will soon start in India. I am sure everyone around the world is wanting to experience life, connect back with the world, friends, family, business associates after a long period of two years.”
Whereas, Ajay Prakash, President, Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI), stated that it’s a huge relief that the government has finally decided to do away with air bubble flights. “We hope that health requirements will also be tweaked adequately and that all airlines will now move swiftly to restore schedules and capacity. Unfortunately, we lost the entire incoming season and inbound tour operators will have to survive somehow for another six months but the resumption of flights spells some hope for the summer outbound summer travel season. The Rupee sadly has depreciated significantly and that will make foreign travel more expensive but hopefully, the capacity increase might bring down international airfares to more realistic levels to even things out. There is a tremendous pent-up demand, and we should see a significant uptick in bookings,” he further added.
From the hospitality industry, Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, Vice President, Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI), said, “The resumption of scheduled commercial international passenger services from March 27 is a welcome relief. The industry was anxiously awaiting an announcement on this since early bird gets the worm.
has been entirely wiped out due to restrictions which also forced approximately 30 per cent of hotels & restaurants to shut business and millions lost their jobs. The hospitality industry’s total revenue in FY 2019-20 stood at INR 1.82 lakh crore and it employed over 50 million people. During the period, the tourism and hospitality industry reported forex earnings of USD 30 billion making it India’s third-largest foreign exchange earner. The latest announcement has come as a ray of hope for hospitality businesses and those employed in the sector.”
Representing the outbound tourism industry, Riaz Munshi, President, Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI), said, “With the opening up of world tourism, relaxation in Covid restrictions and India coming on the Green List of most countries, we feel that the announcement regarding starting scheduled international flights couldn’t have come at a better time. We are extremely thankful to the Union Civil Aviation Minister for his persistent efforts. The resumption of international scheduled flights will boost the confidence of Indian traveller, who is yearning for an international holiday. The outbound sector in India has suffered immensely in the last two years and we are all hopeful that the surge in travel will help us to revive at least some bit of our losses.”
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