Budget 2024: Hospitality Sector Disappointed by Lack of Specific Support

New Delhi, Jul 23 (PTI) Hospitality players on Tuesday expressed disappointment with the Budget for 2024-25 citing lack of policy announcements to facilitate the development of the sector.

They lamented that some key demands to revitalise the tourism and hospitality sector such as granting of infrastructure status and bringing ease of doing business and policy reforms have not been considered in the Budget.

The Hotel Association of India (HAI) President KB Kachru said the tourism and hospitality sector plays a crucial role in the growth of the Indian economy. The continued focus on government spending on infrastructure development augurs well for the sector.

"Regrettably, however, there has been no policy announcement to facilitate the development of hotels and promotion of inbound tourism," he added.

Expressing similar views, the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) Pradeep Shetty said the hospitality sector has been pinning high hopes on the Union Budget for 2024-25 on the backdrop of the government of India's stated vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047 and the critical role the tourism industry holds in achieving it.

"However, there is nothing spectacular in the budget to bring structural changes to address the fundamental challenges it faces in a competitive world order and to accelerate the growth of the sector to be a USD 3 trillion economy by 2047," he added.

Radisson Hotel Group, Managing Director and Area Senior Vice President- South Asia, Nikhil Sharma said the Budget focuses on positioning India as a global tourism hub through progressive initiatives.

"The surge in spiritual tourism has been recognised, and we are excited to see the sector receiving much-needed support in this year's budget. The development of road connectivity projects, with a special emphasis on spiritual and cultural corridors, underscores the government of India's commitment to fueling the growth of the country's rich cultural and spiritual network of tourism," he added.

Travel distribution firm ixigo, however termed the government's policy initiatives to enhance spiritual tourism a "welcome move".

"The government's policy initiatives to enhance spiritual tourism are a welcome move towards growing domestic tourism as well as making India a global travel destination," said Aloke Bajpai, Chairman, Managing Director & Group CEO, ixigo.

"We expect a similar boost in tourism to Bihar and Odisha with spiritual tourism corridors coming up for Vishnupad Temple and Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya, along with comprehensive initiatives for Rajgir, Nalanda, and Odisha," said Bajpai.

According to experts there are significant gaps in the budget that could hinder the growth and recovery in the travel and tourism sector.

Apex travel agents body TAAI is totally shocked at the zero response received from the government. "The budget falls short in launching robust campaigns to boost domestic tourism, which has become increasingly crucial in the current global context," it said.

"With the continued focus by the government on enhancing tourism to religious sites by development of corridors at Vishnupad temple and Mahabodhi temple is a welcome move which will boost the local economy," said Rajat Mahajan, partner at Deloitte India.

According to Rikant Pittie, Co-Founder, EaseMyTrip, the government has also shown interest in simplifying taxation in cruise business by proposing a presumptive taxation for cruise ship operations in India. This initiative aims to encourage foreign cruise owners to operate in India, thereby providing a significant boost to cruise tourism in the country, he stated.

"Union Budget 2024-25 proposes a simpler tax regime for foreign shipping companies operating domestic cruises in India... The government aims to achieve annual cruise passenger traffic of 18 lakh by 2030 and have 25 operational cruise terminals by 2047. These initiatives are expected to increase tourists flow, generate employment, and showcase India's rich cultural and natural heritage to the world," said Pushan Sharma, Director-Research, CRISIL Market Intelligence & Analytics.