People from the tourism and hospitality industry traveled to Dholpur in Rajasthan from 15th to 18th September to make an appeal to the government to initiate the issuance of tourist visas under the banner of “Unlocking International Tourism”.
Beginning of this month, the government announcement to extend the ban on international flights by another month put further jitters in the inbound tourism market from India.
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 shop.
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 keeps increasing by the hour, more countries are opening up borders to the people, especially the double vaccinated population. Multiple countries in Europe are now accessible to fully 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-visas remain suspended, even though the government has indicated that the same would start soon.
Around 25 people made their way to Dholpur in Rajasthan and also met 4-time Member of Parliament and a hospitality industry stalwart himself, Mr. Dushyant Singh.
Mr. Dushyant Singh assured everyone that the government is working hard to come out with the new guidelines to reopen international travel towards India.
Sanjay Razdan, Director – Razdan Holidays and Jt. Secretary IATO, was extremely pleased with the meeting.
Sanjay Razdan had a few words post the journey.
“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.
Mr.Dushyant Singh was kind enough to hear us all out and gave us ample time to discuss tourism and other related concerns and we are obliged to him.”
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
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
Neelam Rai Singh – Beckon Tours
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