BHUBANESWAR: Hit by both the waves of Covid-19, hoteliers and other stakeholders of the hospitality sector in Odisha have suggested slew measures to NITI Aayog to give a fillip to the industry.
Submitting a memorandum to the NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar during his recent visit to the State, HRAO and IATO eastern region Chairman JK Mohanty proposed granting infrastructure status to the hospitality sector. This will enable the hotels to avail electricity, water and land at industrial rates and also support them in getting better infrastructure lending rates with access to larger funds as external commercial borrowings, he said.
In order to increase hotel capacity in the country, Mohanty suggested a 5 per cent interest subsidy for hotels in select tourist destinations in every state for a period of three years to make India a competitive tourist destination and at par with other southeast Asian countries. The need for direct air connectivity to Bodh Gaya, Pune, Udaipur and Ahmedabad from Odisha was also highlighted.