How is FAITH different from various industry associations in terms of your mission and focus of operation ?
 |
|
Sarab Jit Singh
|
Singh: Faith is not an association but a federation of associations. We are not doing what the associations are doing. We are taking the issues collectively to the state and central governments. Till the time we came together we never knew what we were losing out. Earlier when we went and met the government our agenda used to be very small, just one vertical and hardly anything got done. After coming together getting appointments with the senior officials in the ministries has become easier. Also, the agenda has become so important and so powerful now, because it is collectively done, the ministries are listening.
The numerous ministries which have an important role to play in the development of tourism in the country, how are you engaging them ?
 |
|
Subhash Verma
|
Verma: Tourism is conncted to many ministries, we were limiting our interactions to one ministry only (MoT), now there is a change. FAITH has been taking one voice of the industry, which the ministries appreciated and things have been happening much faster than before.
Singh: There are 15 central ministries who have to do things to ensure growth of tourism, and because there has been no interaction between them and the tourism ministry, things have not been taken forward. We have been interacting with the ministry of commerce, ministry of finance, ministry of environment, ministry of civil aviation, ministry of transport, shipping (cruises are passing by India and not stopping), and even ministry of railways – all are important. While they might have little role to play, but that little role is helping in overall growth of tourism.
Your views on the implementation of e-visa initiative?
Singh: I will clearly say that e-visa that is going to come soon is only possible because we came together under one roof. It was actually FAITH’s document on which the whole thing started off. Yes, it was supported by the ministry of tourism and all others concerned. This will be a game changer for India’s tourism. However, it alone cannot give us the resuts that we are aiming for, there are small things to be done by all the ministries and if we have a common meeting of all the minsitries talking about the issues. For good impact the prime minister of India must call all the ministries and have a day long conference. He has to give them direction. The MoT might not be in a position to take a lead role today.
Have you approached the PMO with your request?
Singh: We have requested the PM, giving the complete details of what we think and how it should be done. We know what the potential is of the industry in India. Now the time is to reap the benefits. The moment the PM gives authority to MoT, things will start falling in place. We can double up our inbound tourism in three years time. We have a single point agenda for this – that all ministries should understand their responsibility towards the growth of tourism, it is not just tourism but economy of the country. We have requested that the PM should have this meeting within the next month because the earliest the better as we are losing by the day. And the country needs foreign exchange.
What have been the important issues that you are taking up with different ministries ?
Singh: We are trying to engage the ministry of external affairs. The Indian embassies and consulates all over the world have to extend the arm of the tourism sector. We have lost so much of ground. This could have been 20 million arrivals last year. We have met every person from the ministry of finance and are hopeful of positive outcome in the next few months. So much investment has been made by the hotel and transport operators – minimum of 50 hotels in India and more than 200 transport operators are unable to service their loans and financial commitment. Then there is the ministry of commerce that has budgets for tourism activities which have never been utilised. The ministry of commerce is coming with new foreign trade policy and we are hopeful of good benefits. One of this could be the service tax.
What are the important areas that need to be highlighted in aviation?
Verma: Every airline that is bringing business to India or taking business from India should be part of our tourism, which is not happening. If we want to bring in international tourists to India every segment has to pool in. We are inviting foreign tour operator associations to have their conventions in India. We are working on a British travel operators convention in India next year, Germany a year later. We are trying several other countries as well.
What about your plans for organising a global travel mart?
Singh: We are very hopeful that next year we will have an India international travel mart. It will be under MoT, being taken care of by FAITH. A professional body will be operating it. This will be a B2B event.
You have been engaging the various state governments also ?
Verma: Most of the tourism elements are state related so FAITH has approached different state governments. We have a meeting with 20-30 stake holders from the state, analyse the key issues and collect the data. In the evening we go to the government of that state, the tourism secretary, and others. We have done this in Maharahtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, this model has been working very successfully.
