Centre to provide financial support to 11,000 travel guides, tourism stakeholders

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Monday that the government will provide financial support to more than 11,000 registered travel guides/Travel and Tourism Stakeholders (TTS), in order to revive the tourism industry.

Sitharaman noted that under the new Loan Guarantee Scheme for COVID affected sectors, working capital and personal loans will be provided to people in the tourism sector to discharge liabilities and restart businesses impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Loan Guarantee Scheme is expected to cover 10,700 regional level tourist guides that have been recognised by the Ministry of Tourism and Tourist Guides and tourist guides recognised by the state governments.  Financial support will also be provided to 904 Travel and Tourism Stakeholders (TTS) that have been recognised by the Tourism Ministry.

The Centre will provide loans with a 100% guarantee up to the following limits:

• Rs. 10,00,000 for Travel and Tourism Stakeholders ( per agency)
• Rs. 1,00,000 for tourist guides licenced at regional or state level

The Central government has noted that loans will be provided with no processing charges, waiver of foreclosure/prepayment charges. There will also be no additional collateral requirement.

The loan scheme will be administered by the Ministry of Tourism through National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company Ltd (NCGTC).

In order to revive tourism in the country the Finance Minister announced that once international travel resumes, the first 5 lakh tourists who come to India will not have to pay visa fees. "Scheme applicable till March 31, 2022, or will be closed after distribution of first 5 lakh visas. One tourist can avail benefit only once," said Nirmala Sitharaman.

Also Read: Govt to spend additional Rs 23,220 cr for COVID-19 preparedness, special focus on children

Also Read: Rs 1.1 lakh crore guarantee scheme announced for COVID-19 affected sectors