NEW DELHI, NOV 2: With tourist arrivals slowing down considerably, the government today announced the decision to accord Export House status to tourism hoping the measure would serve as a booster to the industry.The decision on the longstanding demand of the tourism industry on export house status was taken at a meeting on Saturday by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde and Tourism Minister Madan Lal Khurana."Export House status should give a big boost to tourism industry, and thus push up foreign earnings, employment and income generation through tourism", Khurana told journalists.However, unlike export houses, in the case of tourism the threshold limits for eligibility of export house status has been downscaled as an incentive for the first two years. "Tourism units earning Rs six crore as foreign exchange every year will be recognised as export houses as against the limit of Rs 12 crore for other units", Khurana said.Among the benefits that accrue with ExportHouse status are Special Import Licence (SIL), free trading of SILs, waiver of bank guarantee for imports and import of cars against foreign exchange earnings.Another bit of good news for the tourism industry is income tax exemption under Section 80 HHD, implying that the balance amounts of profits accruing to the them can be invested in equity shares of various tourism segments including hotels.The government has also decided to extend the EPCG (export promotion of capital goods) scheme to tourism export houses and reduce the zero duty threshold limit in case of imports required by such units from Rs 20 crore to Rs one crore. The longstanding plea of tour operators on a reduction in excise duties levied on imported cars and coaches would also be considered, Khurana said.
