The Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) on Wednesday said that the tourism, travel and hospitality industry will support any move to promote responsible driving, including policing along highways to prevent drunken driving.
In a statement here, Nakul Anand, Chairman, FAITH, said that as the nodal body representing the tourism industry in the country, the Federation was reviewing the way forward with key stakeholders. This follows the Supreme Court order on sale of liquor along highways in the country.
He said that the country’s tourism, travel and hospitality industry is estimated to contribute $200 billion, 9.5% of India’s GDP, and provide employment to 5 crore persons. This 5.5% of capital investment is immobile and cannot be relocated driven by decisions which challenge their business models on a retrospective basis.
Almost 9 million tourists visit India, resulting in almost 27 million foreign visitations across Indian States. These, along with 1.8 billion domestic visitations frequent a significant portion of these establishments as guests. All of this will be put to risk if the overall food and beverage experience is compromised at such legitimate establishments which pay direct and indirect taxes and levies to both the central and state governments, he said.
Mr. Anand further said that a major reason for meetings, conferences, corporate events, weddings and exhibitions to be held at such establishments in India was to combine them with social get-togethers, which includes food, beverage and entertainment experiences. India has less than an estimated 0.5% of the world share of this sub-sector of tourism which will see large scale cancellations. That has already started happening.
“The tourism industry requests that any damaging impact on investments in fixed capital assets and on large-scale employment should be reconsidered,” he said in a statement.
