Second month of the year and we have already witnessed a couple of big networking events where the travel and hospitality industry got together to network and explore business opportunities. 2023 certainly looks promising! In fact, if the travel sentiment is to be believes, this is going to be the year of growth and rebound. Businesses claim that not only will they meet the 2019 figures, they will also surpass it and create new records. Well, may it all come true. Amen!
The recently announced Budget 2023 – 24 held some good news for the tourism sector. Not only was Tourism mentioned multiple times during the speech by the honourable Finance Minister, numerous plans were also disclosed to boost the tourism infrastructure of the country. The announcement of 50 additional airports to boost air connectivity, sanction of Rs. 2.40 lakh crore to Railways for development and plan to selected 50 tourist destinations through challenge mode to be developed as a whole package for domestic and international tourism were some of the key highlights that will surely boost the tourism infrastructure of our country. Promotion of Border Villages under Vibrant Villages Programme is also a welcome initiative. However, the steep rise in TCS on International Holidays from 5 per cent to 20 per cent is not so-welcome move and has left many from the industry angry and immensely disappointed.
BOTT February SATTE Special Issue brings forth to you a mixed bag of stories that highlights various aspects of our industry. Almost 25 senior industry professionals have shared their feedback on the budget – good or bad; while a handful of senior hospitality professionals tells us how weddings have become an indispensable part of their revenue system post Covid. In addition to this, there are in-depth interviews of a wide spectrum of industry professionals, who met with the BOTT Team at OTM in Mumbai. Read all this and more and don’t forget to share your feedback, criticism and praise with us at priyanka@bottindia.com
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