Soni urges tax sops to boost tourism

Informing the chief ministers about the suggestions made by stakeholders at a recent meeting in the Capital,the minister said,“The industry representatives have unanimously expressed the view that the state governments should give due consideration to safety and security,seamless travel,rationalisation of passenger and road tax,rationalisation of luxury tax and increase of floor area ratio of hotels in order to provide relief for the tourism sector in these difficult times.”

The minister’s letter comes in the wake of three months of continuous slide in the foreign tourist arrivals in the country,as compared to the same months last year,mainly because of the global economic meltdown. Before the crisis became visible in October,foreign tourist arrivals in the country were growing at a healthy rate of 12-14 per cent per year for the last 4-5 years,much more than the global average of 7-8 per cent.

Riding on this healthy trend,and also keeping in view the potential of the Commonwealth Games to bring in more visitors,India had set a target of attracting 10 million tourists by 2010,almost double of what it received in 2007. However,the financial crisis,coupled with the temporary effect of the Mumbai terrorist attacks,has triggered a definite slowdown in the industry.