Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce Industry (FICCI) has recommended easing of restrictions on the travel, tourism and hospitality segment in India in the Unlock 3.0 phase, commencing on August 1, 2020.
Businesses and livelihoods are under tremendous pressure due to the collapsed demand, layoffs, and wage reductions as a result of the lockdown, and FICCI recommended the lifting of the existing restrictions with vigilance.
The recommendations ask for allowing Indian and foreign carriers to operate between two countries with health protocols in place. They also feel that the country should allow international travel after accepting the COVID Negative Certificate issued by the country of origin, waiving off the quarantine period. Standard Quarantine Protocol should be issued by MoHFW and that should be followed by all states to facilitate smooth transit. To make this happen, India should start issuing visas to tourists in the ‘Safe Corridors’.
Airports should provide resources to set up infrastructural support, for instance, setting up a Sample Collection Centre.
In order to boost domestic travel, FICCI has asked Indian states to announce clear cut dates for the opening of monuments, tourist attractions, hotels, restaurants, and bars. All states/UTs should have a clear date and announce this for every vertical under tourism so that this also gives time to stakeholders to prepare themselves.
The states/UTs should have a targeted marketing campaign to communicate the safety measures taken by the government at various tourist attractions and the private stakeholders to ensure the safety of the tourists when traveling to a destination. This will help to educate tourists and build their confidence to travel.
In several states, even within the same district, there is an inconsistent implementation of the quarantine period. This leads to extreme inconvenience to travelers on business. Uniformity of implementation, as well as a common platform for communication of the same, will be helpful, FICCI said.
FICCI also recommended greater access to restaurants and eateries in the Unlock 3.0. The usage of restaurants and eateries in hotels should be opened for outside guests, too. Restricting these services only to resident guests will make their operations unviable. All restaurants and eateries in the hotel should be allowed to serve residents as well as non-resident guests, at 50% seating capacity while maintaining social distancing norms.
Similarly, as the current restrictions on banquets make the banquet operations unviable for hotels, FICCI suggested that permission to host all kinds of banquet and conference in the hotel, with a ceiling of 50% of venue capacity maintaining social distancing norm should be permitted enabling the hotel to earn some revenue.
Events should be self-regulated, i.e. venue owners should be allowed to operate on the basis of self-certification of adherence to guidelines instead of approvals by authorities. In case approvals are required, clear guidelines should be defined (from police, municipal bodies, or other entities) for venues to operate and conduct events - to solve ambiguity around requirements.
News Courtesy: HWN
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin.
