GUWAHATI: The Tour Operators Association of Assam (TOAA), Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) - NE Chapter and Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) - NE Chapter have submitted a petition to the government of Assam's Advisory Committee for Revitalization of the State Economy headed by Subhas Ch Das (IAS) Retd and 7 prominent economists and experts.
The Committee has been set up to assess the macro- economic and socio-economic impact as well as sector-specific impact of COVID-19.
Further, the Committee aims to analyse strategically the strengths and weaknesses of different sectors of the state's economy, to suggest a roadmap and suggest fiscal and non-fiscal stimulus to different sectors of the economy.
With the recovery timeline of the pandemic still being unclear, it is feared that the entire tourist season 2020-21 (till April 2021) will be washed out and which has the potential to derail the tour operators completely. The distress of tourism stakeholders in the state started in December 2019 with widespread social unrest emanating from the Citizenship Bill protests. The scenario is particularly grim as the tourist season duration in Assam is effectively for just about 7 months (October - April).
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As such the tour operators have highlighted the following measures:
1. Provide long term loans to the tour operators without collateral security to restructure/rebuild their businesses.
2. EMIs of loans already secured by the operators must be deferred up to March 2021.
3. Defer collection of fees for any upcoming Trade Licenses / Shop & Establishment Licenses / Permits/ Statutory Renewals etc for the travel industry in Assam for at least one financial year.
Also, various medium-term and long-term measures were identified to revitalize the tourism sector in Assam.
It was highlighted that the tourism sector needs a special handholding in terms of financial aid as it has become impossible for the tour operators to stay afloat. It is feared that 80-90% of trained tour professionals and employees in this sector will face joblessness. Total estimated loss till date is expected to run into hundreds of crores of rupees and prospects of job loss in this sector are very real coupled with the fear of loss of livelihood of lakhs of people dependent on the related activities like handlooms & handicrafts, art and culture, wildlife etc.