India’s G20 Presidency brings hope to hospitality industry

“India’s G20 presidency brings with it a great opportunity for the tourism and hospitality industry. The country will host delegates from the 20 participating countries over the duration of a year and this might also pique the interest of tourists to travel to India. After two years of absolute stalling, this has come as a golden opportunity for the tourism and hospitality industry. This is the time that the government should go full throttle to promote tourism under the ‘Incredible India’ banner. The hospitality industry is ready to showcase its world-class standards and facilities to the world while celebrating the country’s rich and varied heritage and diversity,” said Jaison Chacko, secretary general, FHRAI.

India’s tourism sector is one of the largest service industries with 10.93 million foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) and $30 billion in foreign exchange earnings in 2019.

A total of 3,263,219 FTAs were recorded till August 2022, which is 47.2 per cent of the 6,914,987 FTAs to the country in the corresponding period in 2019. With the G20 Summit taking place across the country throughout the year, the hospitality industry hopes to bridge the 50 per cent deficit in tourist inflow in a lesser time span.

“We congratulate the government on assuming the G20 Presidency. The series of meetings and yearlong activities will give a big boost to the industry and its allied sectors and the industry is ready and excited to host the delegates of G20. India is already gaining much popularity for its medical tourism and MICE is another such niche space that can catapult India into one of the major tourism nations in the South-East Asian market. Just before the pandemic broke out, the MoT had set up a MICE fund under the CSSS to boost MICE tourism in the country by encouraging the meetings and conference operators to bring more international conferences, meetings, and seminars to India,” said Pradeep Shetty, president, Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) & executive committee member, FHRAI.

As per the FHRAI, tourism and hospitality contributed close to 10 per cent to the country’s GDP and supported close to 90 million jobs directly and indirectly prior to the pandemic. By the end of the third wave of the pandemic, the hospitality industry had suffered a whopping Rs 1.40 lakh crore loss and millions of people lost jobs.

“We strongly feel that this is the most opportune time of the industry if steps are taken in the right direction. We are certain that India’s G20 Presidency will help the cause of the industry and the industry is aligned with the government in its mission to present India’s hospitality prowess to the world,” said Chacko.