ASSOCIATION P 06

Sejoe takes over as IATO’s South Regional Head

FAITH suggests GST rationalization to enable support to the industry

News Desk

The IATO Executive Committee has relooked and restructured the Regional and the State Chapters to expand its wings and strengthen the membership of the association. Sejoe Jose, Managing Director of Marvel Tours has been given the bigger responsibility and appointed as the Chairman of IATO Southern Region which would cover Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Andaman Nicobar, Puducherry and Lakshadweep. He will take over from E.M. Najeeb who has been the Chairman of Southern Region and has immensely contributed for the growth of IATO in Southern Region. James Kodianthara, Managing Director, Concord Exotic Voyages has been appointed as the Chairman of IATO Kerala Chapter in place of Sejoe Jose. Jitendra Kejriwal, Chairman, Arika Tour & Travels Mumbai has taken over as Chairman Maharashtra Chapter replacing Vasuki Sundaram. Separate Chapters have been created for Uttarakhand and Ladakh with Nidhish Sharma, Managing Director, Garhwal Adventure Dehradun and Tsering Namgyal, Managing Director, Windhorse Expeditions India, Ladakh being appointed as Chairman for Uttarakhand and Ladakh respectively. Speaking on the development, IATO’s President, Rajiv Mehra mentioned he is sure that the new appointments will help strengthen IATO’s membership base pan India and especially in Uttarakhand and Ladakh as there was no separate Chapter Chairman in these two states. “With having State Chairman located at those places, besides increasing membership base, IATO will have better coordination and interaction with the state governments and the local trade,” he added.

News Desk

FAITH the policy federation of all the national associations representing the complete tourism, travel and hospitality industry of India has made suggestions to Finance Ministry, Tourism Ministry & the CEA for GST rationalization of Indian Tourism Value Chain, to be taken up in the upcoming GST council meeting the next week.

The association has suggested to initiate the process of undertaking a review and rationalisation of GST applicable across different aspects of the Indian tourism, travel and hospitality industry. FAITH feels that this rationalisation will enable some rationale support once the tourism industry attempts to begin its long crawl back from the pandemic. Some of the measures proposed are briefly mentioned below: Š Hotels to be allowed to charge

IGST which will enable seamless availability of credit across India to all travel agents and tour operators and will thereby lead to building up a sustainable domestic holidays,meetings and conventions business within the country. Š Tour operators to be enabled a special presumptive GST rate of 1.8% with full GST setoffs.

The current rate of 5% without setoffs structurally implies that tour operators have an inbuilt margin of around 27.8% which is an inherently flawed assumption in the internet economy. Š Travel Agents be also allowed the option of exploring the reseller model for charging as they are distribution

arms for airlines. This option will enable travel agents to structure optimal partnerships as per their business requirements between their clients and their airline partners. Š Tourist transporters be allowed the provision for availing GST setoffs on interstate Tourist transport taxes, taxes on parking fees and on taxes on fuel which is their biggest input costs. Š Restaurants should be also allowed the option of charging

GST at 12% with full Input tax credits and the rate should be delinked from any room tariffs if they are part of hotels. Š GST refund on purchases by foreign tourists to be implemented as already enacted under GST. -Tax

Refund for Tourists (TRT)

Scheme of the IGST Act and its applicability should be ensured across all the product and tourism services availed by them in India. This will prevent India from exporting its taxes on tourism and will increase our global competitiveness in world tourism.

Š Tourism, travel & hospitality players must be allowed to get refund of unutilized

GST credit lying with state governments which will enable them to get much needed liquidity. Š Hotels to be enabled to charge 12% GST with full setoffs irrespective of their tariff categories which will ensure that Indian hospitality GST becomes more competitive globally as in most tourism focused countries it is below 10 %.