Coronavirus Denting Tourism, Hospitality Sector: Industry Body

The travel and tourism sector alone accounted for 9.2 per cent of India’s GDP in the year 2018.

Coronavirus pandemic empties iconic tourist spots. Representational image.

(Photo: Indiaprint.com)

The cascading effect of the global coronavirus pandemic is crippling the country’s tourism and hospitality industry at an “astonishing pace”, an industry body said.

The Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) said that the Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTA) has come down by about 67 per cent annually in the January-March quarter, while for domestic tourists the figure is lower by nearly 40 per cent, according to statistics published by the tourism ministry.

“Disruption due to coronavirus could result in 18-20 per cent erosion of nationwide occupancy across the hospitality sector, and 12-14 per cent drop in average daily rates (ADRs) for the entire 2020.”

General Rajeev Singh, ICC Director

The travel and tourism sector alone accounted for 9.2 per cent of India’s GDP in 2018, and generated 26.7 million jobs in that year, the ICC said in a statement.

“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 said.

The industry body recommended a host of initiatives for the central government, including extending the RBI’s three-month moratorium on repayment of term loans to six months and a complete GST holiday for the tourism, travel and hospitality industry for the next 12 months.

ICC also recommended setting up of a “Travel & Tourism Stabilisation Fund” with direct benefit transfer to each unit to prevent financial loss and consequent job loss.