Address supply shortages to meet growing demand in tourism sector: Tourism Additional Secretary

"While a burgeoning economy, rising incomes and growing aspirations have created an unprecedented demand for tourism, the problem is that the supply, in terms of number of hotels, tourist infrastructure etc, is not keeping pace with tourist demand," said Suman Billa.

He added that the challenge is to kickstart supply to take advantage of the window of opportunity in the sector.

Speaking during the session on Ease of Doing Business, at the 18th CII Annual Tourism Summit 2024 in New Delhi today, Billa enunciated a three-pronged strategy for the states to improve supply and create a flourishing tourism sector.

He emphasised the Ministry of Finance and RBI should provide the infrastructure status to the sector which would offer credit at cost effective rates and with longer repayment period.

He added that there is a need to rationalise development norms across states such as FSI etc.

Going further, he emphasised the need to facilitate ease of doing business by simplifying clearances and making them time bound.

While international tourism is rising, it is well below domestic tourism and the challenge is to increase the footprint of international travellers who come for business, leisure and shopping, he added.

He stated that while Indian embassies have been given the mandate to promote India as a travel destination, a plan of action is required to make it a success.

He also informed that infrastructure projects would be given to the states in the challenge mode and incentives would be based on investments made by the states.

During the session, Anil Chadha, Chief Executive, ITC Hotels, felt that leisure tourism is the way forward for India. India's story on food is amazing and every location is versatile in terms of food and language which should be built upon. Similarly, India has sufficient capacity in MICE tourism with world class facilities provided by conference centres such as yashobhoomi, Bharat Mandapam etc.

Ashmita Joshi, Head Public Policy-India & Southeast Asia, Airbnb India Pvt. Ltd. spoke extensively on homestays. She stated that homestay policy is presently restricted to six states and a policy which would provide a national framework on homestays is being worked upon in association with NITI Aayog. Goa is a model state for homestays, she averred. (ANI)