Click to play videoNew Delhi: The fear that India will be bypassed by the international tourist, discouraged by the paucity of accommodation and lack of infrastructure, has now prompted the Government to look at creating special tourism enclaves.
It's the concept of creating special tourism zones (STZs) on the lines of the controversial Special Economic Zones (SEZs).
While the fate of the SEZ still hangs in the balance, CNN-IBN the Tourism Ministry has floated a proposal for the creation of STZs modeled on SEZ lines, and predictably the Left is seeing red.
The proposal being floated by the Ministry of Tourism says:
- Government should provide single window clearance.
- Tax exemption for a period of 10 years.
- Each STZ should be able to provide 2,000 to 3,000 hotel rooms.
- Exemption of import duty on capital goods.
- Withdrawal of luxury tax and lower VAT.
- Exclusive NRI tourism zones or elite world tourist zones for the hig-end global traveller.
Predictably, the Reds are waving the red flag. Chairman of the Standing Committee on Tourism, CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury has shot off a letter to the Tourism Minister asking for some clarifications.
The CPI-M contends that the proposed Special Tourism Zone providing a 100 per cent central tax exemption and waiver of luxury tax, will prove disastrous for state governments, especially those states that are tourism dependent like Kerala - where luxury tax is a major source of revenue.
"It's the same argument that goes against the SEZ's as well and now that the government has figured it's not a well thought out policy, they better be warned of the the STZ's likewise," says Sitaram Yechury.
However, the Government on the other hand is hoping that with such incentives, STZs like the SEZs will see private investors flocking to India, which will in turn result in improved infrastructure and economic activity.
Nonetheless, the Left is pinning its hopes on the fact that a similar policy creating Special Tourism Areas was mooted in the National Tourism Policy in 1992, with issues like displacement and violation of the Coastal Zone Regulation nipping the proposal in the bud.
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