Guarantee-free loan scheme announced in Union Budget not beneficial to most travel agents, say tourism stakeholders
TIRUCHY: The Covid-19 pandemic has left a huge impact on the travel sector, and tour operators in the city were looking up to the Union Budget with high expectations.
Though Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman announced guarantee-free loan up to Rs 10 lakh for Ministry of Tourism-approved tourism stakeholders, several travel agents and tour operators in Tiruchy felt that it would not be of much help as many of them are not eligible for the loan.
“I have already got a call from my bank regarding this guarantee-free loan and I welcome the move. But this would not be of much help for several travel agents and tour operators as many of them don’t have approval from the ministry. In Tiruchy, as far as I know, there are only four ministry-approved tour operators and I am one among them. The Union government has to change the criteria for this guarantee-free loan to help the stakeholders. It should consider giving the loan to travel and tour operators operating with a GST number. It can check their business with the GST number. This might help hundreds depending on the travel and tourism sector,” said G Kalidasan, a travel agent in the city.
With several countries following restrictions for international operations, a section of tour operators believe the sector needs more support from the government.
“Business has reduced considerably and many travel agents are struggling to cope with the situation. The government should come up with some scheme to promote more operations. It should also engage in talks with more countries to increase flight operations. Or else, travel and tourism sector might take a lot more time to recover,” M Ramesh, a tour operator, said.
Several of the travel and tour operators also stressed the need for changing the criteria for guarantee-free loan.
"I am running a small firm and I used to have about four employees. But the pandemic has forced me to reduce the staff strength and now I have only one. It would have been a great relief had they given some financial aid. In fact, ministry approval is not a mandatory requirement and only major operators would take it. Therefore, the government has to remove this approval criteria for this loan," Suresh Kumar, a small travel agent and tourist transport operator, said.