Lok Sabha Question No. 1333 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-06
Subject: Proposal to Intensify Tourism for Re-employment
Ministry: TOURISM
Asked by: Kalyan Banerjee

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF TOURISM

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1333 ANSWERED ON 06.12.2021

## PROPOSAL TO INTENSIFY TOURISM FOR RE-EMPLOYMENT

## 1333. SHRI KALYAN BANERJEE:

Will the Minister of TOURISM be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  it  is  a  fact  that  to  revive  tourism,  there  is  a  need  to kickstart recovery and growth in the country; (b) whether it is a fact that tourism employs one in every ten people on  earth  and  because  of  the  pandemic  over  30  million  direct tourism jobs are lost in the country; and the proposal of the Government to intensify the tourism sector
- (c) and re-employment therein?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF TOURISM                                   (SHRI G. KISHAN REDDY)

(a): Yes, Sir.

(b): As per 'United Nations Policy brief: COVID-19 and Transforming Tourism', according to 2019 data, tourism employed one in every ten people globally.

Ministry of Tourism engaged National Council of Applied Economic  Research  (NCAER)  to  conduct  study  on  'India  and  the Corona Virus Pandemic: Economic Losses for Households Engaged in Tourism  and  Policies  for  Recovery'.  As  per  the  study,  a  significant number of  jobs  were  lost  in  the  tourism  sector  once  the  lockdown was implemented.

(c): The  details  of  steps  taken  by  Government  to  intensify  the tourism sector and re-employment in tourism sector are at Annexure.

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## ANNEXURE

STATEMENT  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (c)  OF  LOK  SABHA  UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1333 ANSWERED ON 06.12.2021 REGARDING PROPOSAL TO INTENSIFY TOURISM FOR RE-EMPLOYMENT

The  following  are  the  steps  taken  by  Government  to  intensify  the tourism sector and re-employment in tourism sector:

- i. The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, has relaxed the restriction for all foreign nationals intended to visit India for Tourism purposes subject to the Covid related guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW). The e-Tourist Visa  /  Tourist  Visa  is fully  restored  for  all  individual  foreign nationals  intended  to  visit  India  for  tourism  purposes  w.e.f. 15th November,  2021.  Initially,  the  e-  Tourist  /  Tourist  Visa  is being issued with the validity of 30 days. Further, he Government of India has announced first 500,000 free visa to the international tourists.
- ii. An  announcement  by  the  Ministry  of  Finance  on  28.06.2021  to provide  relief  to  the  tourism  sector,  Ministry  of  Tourism  has implemented  the  "Loan  Guarantee  Scheme  for  Covid  Affected Tourism Service Sector (LGSCATSS)". Under this loan guarantee scheme, loan upto Rs. 10.00 lakh will be extended to each Tour Operators/ Travel Agents/ Tourist Transport Operators approved/ recognized by the Ministry of Tourism, upto Rs. 1.00 lakh will be extended to each Regional Tourist Guide/ Incredible India Tourist Guide  approved/recognized  by  the Ministry of  Tourism  and Tourist  Guides  approved/  recognized  by  the  State  Govt./  UT Administration.

The purpose of  the  LGSCATSS  of  the  Ministry  of  Tourism  is  to provide  guarantee  coverage  for  the  loans  provided  by  the mentioned and  restart  their

Scheduled Commercial Banks to the above beneficiaries, to discharge  their  liabilities business affected due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Validity of the said scheme is till 31.03.2022 or till the guarantee of Rs. 250.00 crores are issued under the scheme, whichever is earlier  and  would be applicable to all eligible  loans sanctioned under the scheme on or after 04.10.2021 [issuance of LGSCATSS guidelines by National Credit Guarantee Trustee  Company

(NCGTC)] till 31.03.2022. No guarantee fee will be charged from the  Money  Lending  Institutions  (MLIs)  by  NCGTC  for  the  credit facilities provided under the Scheme.

- iii. Under  RCS  UDAN-3  Tourism,  Ministry  of  Tourism  approached Ministry of Civil Aviation, with the purpose of further improving connectivity  and  got  46  tourism  routes  included  for  better connectivity  of  important  tourist  places  including  Iconic  sites. Currently 29 tourism routes have been operationalized.

Ministry of Tourism has given its recommendations for inclusion of tourism routes and improving the air connectivity in the North Eastern  region. The  Ministry  of Civil  Aviation  has  recently finalized  78  Routes  under  RCD  UDAN-4  which  largely  aims  at increasing  air  connectivity  to  and  within  the  North  Eastern Region.

- iv. The Ministry of Tourism has launched the Incredible India Tourist Facilitator (IITF) Certification Programme- a digital initiative that aims at creating an Online learning platform with the objective of creating a pool of well trained and professional Tourist Facilitators  across  the  country.  The  system  provides  basic, advanced (heritage and adventure), spoken language and refresher  courses  for  candidates.  The  candidates  can  pursue these online courses from anywhere and at any time and at their own pace. On successful completion of the course, he/she will be  a  professionally  certified  tourist  facilitator  who  will  support tourists  by  disseminating  information,  eliciting  interest  in  them about the country and providing experiential tourism. The Programme has been made available online w.e.f. 01.01.2020.

This  digital  initiative  will  help  in  employment  generation  and help boost the tourism industry across the country. This scheme will  also  help  boost  tourism  in  North-East  Indian  states  by enhancing  the  facilities  and  quality  experience  of  the  tourists visiting in the region.

The first ever Incredible India Tourism Facilitator Basic Course online  exam  was  conducted  in  Feb,  2021  for  which  result  was announced in March, 2021 for 2230 successful candidates. The 2nd  IITFC  Basic  Course  exam  was  conducted  on  03rd  &  04th July, 2021, for which 1370 candidates appeared out of which 841 were declared successful.

- v. The  Government  announced  Atmanirbhar  Bharat  Package  vide which Rs.3.00 lakh crore collateral free automatic loan has been
2. made available for MSMEs. The loan will have 4- year tenure and 12-month moratorium.
- vi. The Government waived off PF contribution for three months for organisations with less than 100 pax and 90% of their employees earn below Rs.15000.
- vii. Under  Atmanirbhar  Bharat  package,  PF  contribution  of  both employer  and  employee  has  been  reduced  to  10%  each  from existing  12%  each  for  all  establishments  covered  by  EPFO  for three months
- viii. Deferment of TCS up to October 2020.
- ix. Return filing deferred for three months with no penal interest for companies up to Rs.5.00 Crore, rest @ 9% penal interest.
- x. The Central government also gave relief from various regulatory compliances under Income Tax Act, companies Act and GST Act for  varying  period  in  the  wake  of  COVID-19  crisis  to  ensure business continuity and survival.
- xi. The RBI extended moratorium on term loans till 31 st  December 2020.
- xii. The Government announced the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 3.0 on 31.3.2021 to support eligible Micro,  Small  and  Medium  Enterprises  (MSMEs)  and  business enterprises in meeting their operational liabilities and restarting their business. The scope of the scheme was enlarged to cover business enterprises in Hospitality, Travel & Tourism and Leisure  &  Sporting  sectors.  The  validity  of  ECLGS  (ECLGS  1.0, ECLGS 2.0 & ECLGS 3.0) was extended up to 30.06.2021 or till guarantees for an amount of Rs. 3.00 lakh crore are issued. Last date  of  disbursement  under  the  scheme  was  extended  to 30.09.2021. The details of guarantees issued under the scheme are given below:
- xiii. Ministry  of  Finance  has  given  concurrence  to  release  Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) scrips on 16.06.2021. Earlier, several Industry stakeholders had flagged appeals to the Government to release SEIS Scrips for 2019-20 and DGFT had put a detailed proposal for the allocation for SEIS for exports made during  2019-20.  Taking  all  circumstances  into  account,  the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance has given concurrence  to  the  proposal  of  Department  of  Commerce  for continuation  of  SEIS  for  2019-20  with  a  financial  allocation  of Rs.2061 crore subject to the condition that the amount will be provided through Expenditure Budget following the procedure of providing a New Minor Head.
- xiv. On  28 th   June  2021,  the  Government  announced  a  stimulus package to boost diverse sectors of economy affected by COVID19  pandemic  and  provide  impetus  for  growth  and  employment measures.  The  package  comprises  a  total  of  17  measures  in three  broad  categories,  which  included  'Economic  relief  from Pandemic, with special focus on health and reviving travel and tourism sectors' and 'Impetus for Growth and employment'.
- xv. Operational  Recommendations  for  safe  resumption  of  business with  easing  of  lockdown  restrictions  have  been  issued  for various  segments  of  the  travel  and  hospitality  industry  and circulated amongst all stakeholders.
- xvi. With a view to prepare for a post-COVID 19 revival, the Ministry has  formulated  and  issued  detailed  operational  guidelines  for Covid safety and hygiene for hotels, restaurants, B&Bs/Homestays and  Tourism  Service  Providers  on  08.06.2020 to facilitate smooth resumption of business.
- xvii. An initiative called SAATHI (System for Assessment, Awareness &  Training  for  Hospitality  Industry)  has  been  developed  for effective implementation of Guidelines/SOPs issued with reference to COVID-19 and beyond for safe operations of Hotels, restaurants, B&Bs and other units.
- xviii. With an aim to incentivize stakeholders in the Tourism industry, the Guidelines for the scheme of Market Development Assistance (MDA) for providing financial support to stakeholders for  the  promotion  of  Domestic  Tourism  have  been  modified  to enhance the scope and reach of the scheme, so as to provide

| Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) Tourism and Hospitality Scheme wise data as on 30.09.2021   | Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) Tourism and Hospitality Scheme wise data as on 30.09.2021   | Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) Tourism and Hospitality Scheme wise data as on 30.09.2021   | Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) Tourism and Hospitality Scheme wise data as on 30.09.2021   |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Industry Nature                                                                                            | Support Under                                                                                              | No. of Guarantees Issued                                                                                   | Amount of Guarantees issued on account of loans sanctioned under the scheme (in Rs. crore)                 |
| Travel and Tourism                                                                                         | ECLGS 3.0                                                                                                  | 2,732                                                                                                      | 1,371.62                                                                                                   |
| Hospitality                                                                                                | ECLGS 3.0                                                                                                  | 3,160                                                                                                      | 5,430.96                                                                                                   |
| Hotels, Restaurants,                                                                                       | ECLGS 2.0                                                                                                  | 218                                                                                                        | 3,403.90                                                                                                   |

| Tourism                      |           |          |           |
|------------------------------|-----------|----------|-----------|
| Tourism, Hotels &Restaurants | ECLGS 1.0 | 96,219   | 3559.43   |
| Total                        |           | 1,02,329 | 13,765.91 |

maximum  benefits  to  the  stakeholders.  Additional  promotional activities  have  been  incorporated  including  online  promotions and  the  extent  of  financial  assistance  permissible  has  been enhanced. xix. Validity of approval or certification of hotels and other accommodation  units  whose  project  approval/re-approval  and classification/re-classification have expired/were likely to expire has been extended up to 31 st  March 2022. xx. The Guidelines of the Marketing Development Assistance Programme under the Overseas Promotion and Publicity Scheme has  been  modified  to  enhance  the  scope  and  reach  of  the scheme, so as to provide maximum benefits to the stakeholders

- in the tourism industry.

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