Union Budget 2022: Hospitality industry seeks tax relief, incentives

New Delhi: As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present the Budget for the financial year 2022-23 in February, the hospitality sector is seeking lower taxes, incentives and reliefs. They also seek Easy sops for the sector in the upcoming Union Budget.

The hospitality sector has urged the government to announce more schemes to promote tourism in the upcoming Budget.

Rahul Deb Banerjee, Vice President, The Clarks Hotels & Resorts told Zee Media, "The government should announce more schemes to promote tourism in the coming budget. Also, due to the pandemic, many small hotels and resorts have closed down. It is essential for the revival of the ailing units, the government announces interest-free loans or sops. Also, more funds should be dedicated to the development of infrastructure. There are still tourist locations that lack proper connectivity. These places need development of roads and connectivity with buses and trains. The government has already started taking measures for infrastructure development but more push is needed."

"In order to promote tourism government announced Uddaan, connecting tier 2 and tier-3 cities with flights. But at ground level, many flights are not connected to smaller tourist destinations. Also, the cities lack proper airports. The government has opened up many international airports in the last five years, but more needed to be done. There should be an increase in train connectivity too," he added.

Sanjay Kasal, General Manager, Namah Resort, Jim Corbett National Park said that owing to the pandemic the hospitality sector has been sent into a disarray as majority of it has been hit hard leaving aside small sectors like Packed foods, Take aways and to some extent Resorts in Leisure destinations in driveable range but a major Chunk is definitely going through a Crux and the government need to look at lending genuinely needed support in these times.

It was seen in the pandemic that Resorts in smaller cities in leisure destinations did well, as more and more people opted for staycation and long vacations however the business hotels in Corporate Sector never saw much footfalls as Majority of the Clients moved to Work From Home & Digital Platform of Meetings options.

Kasal added, "MICE business was majorly affected during pandemic. The high tax rate on hospitality sector seems more like a burden as the already existing Cost Structures along with added expenses of following the Covid Protocol has forced some of the Players to make undesirable cuts in internal expenses, Salaries, Maintenance Costs etc".

He said that the government needs to relook into taxes, specially where the hospitality sector is concerned.

"Easy sops should be given. Also, based on the past few years performance if business hotels are not doing good,than tax structure needs to be lowered," Kasal said.