Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 27: A meeting of tourism industry stakeholders of J&K was organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Bank Executive President, Sunil Gupta and Zonal Head, Sunit Kumar in the presence of Vikram Gujral, one of the Board of Directors at Rail Head Complex, here today.
Among other invitees, it was also attended by Raman Suri, General Secretary Tourism Federation of Jammu and BB Kotwal, Chairman Bhaderwah Tour & Travel Association.
Prior to this meeting, the Finance Committee of Tourism Federation of Jammu comprising of Raman Suri, Amrik Singh, BB Kotwal and Tapan Dubey, had conducted an extensive research to understand the problems being faced by the tourism industry in J&K and to find a way out to weather this storm.
While presenting the report during the meeting, Raman Suri said that during and post lockdown, it is believed that around 70 percent i.e. 3.8 crore out of a total estimated workforce of 5.5 crore could get unemployed in the travel and tourism industry pan India. He informed that Jammu province has around 900 hotels, lodges & guest houses registered with the department while a substantial number operate without any licensing and are unregistered. Out of all registered hotels, lodges and guest houses, a maximum of 2% are star rated and more than 80% cater to economy/budget category pilgrims/tourists.
“In Jammu province, around 1200 travel / excursion agents are registered with department of Tourism, between 10,000 to 25,000 tour guides, commission agents & service providers are working in an unorganized manner, more than 15,000 people are directly employed in units registered with the Tourism Department. In Kashmir province too, same patterns are found. All the small units, facilities and agents form 80% of the tourism industry in J&K,” Suri added.
During the meeting, Tourism Federation demanded that for bigger units, who are already under the ambit of banks, there should be interest deferment and interest-free moratorium of existing projects as well as low cost funding for new upcoming projects. However, for the self and family-funded small units (around 80% of total capacity), that are outside the ambit of bank loans, special loans should be provided for their sustenance and revival.
“The demand of time is to protect the 80% of total tourism stakeholders, who have not availed any bank loans,” Federation added.
The special loans for “Sustenance” part should be for meeting the expenditure period of lockdown, and “Revival” part should be to cover the expenditure for infrastructure modifications, as fresh norms for tourism industry are expected for next few years in view of “Physical Distancing”, required to prevent the Coronavirus spread.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel