Tourism boards to watch Black Day on Could 1

The Kerala Tourism Brotherhood will consider May 1st a black day to pressure the state government to resolve the issues the sector is facing due to restrictions imposed following the COVID-19 outbreak.

Tourism Samrakshana Samithi, an umbrella organization of 20 organizations, will celebrate the working day nationwide with black masks this time. A social media campaign #SaveTourism will also be started.

Even companies that generate income from tourism are in dire straits, according to the forum. Tourism was a mainstay of Kerala’s economy. It generated £ 44,000 annually and provided 15 lakh jobs. However, the sector has had problems for the past 14 months, says the Samithi.

The second wave of COVID-19 has led the administration to impose further travel restrictions. Of the 18,000 people who recently tested positive for COVID, only 269 came from outside of Kerala – and none of them were in the state as tourists. Workers in this sector have strictly followed the COVID-related protocols.

Samithi convenor Sudheesh Kumar says its demands include providing £ 5,000 per month to unemployed people in the sector, a package to support tourism workers, tax exemptions and fees for tourist vehicles and houseboats, and a moratorium on tax arrears.

An immediate £ 250 billion financial package to support tourism workers, £ 2,500 billion loan funding from Kerala Bank and the restructuring of all bank loans in the tourism sector are other requests.

GST moratorium

The organization has also tried to ease restrictions on tourist movement and impose a 24-month moratorium on GST. The RT-PCR test shouldn’t be mandatory for those visiting and returning Kerala, it said.