A group of 18 inbound tour operators from New Delhi undertook a trip to Dholpur and Ramsagar lake in Rajasthan with an appeal to the government for opening up tourist visas and reinstate international flights.
The trip was organized from 15th to 18th September to appeal the Indian government to initiate issuance of tourist visas. The participants believe that it is high time that the government announces measures to unlock inbound tourism.
The government’s recent announcement to extend the ban on international flights by another month put further jitters in the inbound tourism market. Already hit by the pandemic, the tourism industry has been suffering for more than 18 months now leading to massive job losses in the industry and multiple tour operators and hotels shutting their businesses.
It is estimated that the tourism industry in India contributes to almost 10% of the GDP and more than 8 million livelihoods. As vaccination across the globe keep increasing by the hour, more countries are opening up borders to the people, especially for the fully vaccinated tourists. Multiple countries in Europe are now accessible to vaccinated Indians enabling them to restart travel to foreign destinations. However, the same has not been offered to tourists wanting to come to India as e-tourist visas remain suspended, even though the government has indicated that the same would start soon.
The participants of the trip met four-time Member of Parliament (MP) and a hospitality industry stalwart, Dushyant Singh. He assured everyone that the government is working hard to come out with the new guidelines to reopen international travel in India.
Sanjay Razdan, Director – Razdan Holidays and Jt. Secretary, IATO was extremely pleased with the meeting. “Our industry has been suffering for far too long and we have been waiting for that ray of light at the end of the tunnel. The ever-increasing vaccination rates here in India and across the globe give us that hope. The government needs to enable the industry to start standing up once again and making India visible to the whole world again.”
The trip was well supported by Dholpur Palace, Narsingh Bagh and Consortium Hotels.
The following organizations participated in this appeal:
· Sanjay Razdan & Dhruv Razdan – Razdan Holidays
· Sunil Mishra – Cosmos Tours
· Jitendra Sharma – The Consortium
· Vandana Vinayak & Ajay Vinayak – Palomino Hospitality
· Deepak Sharma – Katha Tours
· Mukesh Manra – Dominion Travel
· Rajiv Tomar – Mystical Journeys
· Neelam Rai Singh – Beckon Tours
· Rishi Kapoor – Abercrombie & Kent India
· Pankaj Acharya – Mystique Mantras Holidays
· Alok Srivastav – Your Holiday Trip
· Naresh Sharma & Aditya Sharma – Inpac Tours
· Chandan Joshi – Captivating Experiences
· Bala Subramaniam – Namaste Tours
· Rakesh Singh – Joyn Travel