Centre wants hospitality sector to adopt, preserve monuments

The tourism and culture ministry wants India’s hospitality sector to adopt country’s historical monuments and help preserve them.

The suggestion was floated during a meeting of HRAWI representatives and the Union Minister for Tourism, Culture and Development of North-Eastern Region, G Kishan Reddy. To consider its feasibility, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has been engaged to prepare a report.

“The Minister was keen about hospitality’s role in the adoption and preservation of historical monuments. He suggested that the hospitality industry participates in such CSR activities that aid in the maintenance and preservation of historical places. The ASI has been requested to prepare a report on the subject and HRAWI has accepted the proposal wholeheartedly,” said HRAWI President Sherry Bhatia.

Interpreting the minutes of the meeting, the hospitality industry thought that if heritage sites and monuments were well protected, they could benefit by being positioned as tourist attractions of the region. The HRAWI believed that well-maintained and well-managed heritage sites, with better amenities would receive better footfall, and better word-of-mouth advertising. This could help encourage tourism in the region, which in turn will increase business and job opportunities for the local public.

The hospitality industry could actively adopt and work on the preservation of worthy historical monuments as part of their CSR activity.

“We have requested the minister to consider making tourism a priority sector, as tourism and hospitality are the key drivers to accelerate socio-economic development of the country. As part of the celebrations of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, and with the support of the Ministry of Tourism, we have also proposed food festivals across the western region,” Bhatia explained.

Among other recommendations submitted at the meeting, the HRAWI also requested the tourism minister to consider granting infrastructure status to hotels, as well as better credit facilities for the sector. To augment growth of tourism and hospitality, the association had requested for investment subsidies and tax holidays for investments in tourism projects, Bhatia said.

“The GST rates for hospitality in India are one of the highest in the world, and this makes both domestic and inbound tourism expensive. We’ve requested that the 18 per cent GST category for hotels above room rates of Rs 7500 annulled, and be merged with the category of 12 per cent GST rate. Similarly, restaurants should be allowed to avail the option to either charge a composite GST at the rate of 5 per cent with no input tax credit, or charge GST at the rate of 12 per cent with full input tax credit and that the rate be delinked from any room tariffs if they are part of hotels,” HRAWI Senior Vice President Pradeep Shett (is this the correct name?) added.

HRAWI also requested that to continue with the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme, favourable liquor license policies and a level-playing field that covers both conventional and alternate accommodation such as B&B, guest houses, short term rentals and so on. The Association also asked for Reddy’s support for the hospitality industry in building a platform similar to the Open Network for Digital Commerce, thus ensuring a level-playing field and to break the monopoly of online travel agencies and the food service aggregators.