The Hotel Association of India (HAI) has urged policymakers to prioritise sector-specific reforms to drive growth and resilience in the hospitality industry, reiterating its long-standing demand for infrastructure status and industry benefits for hotels ahead of the Union Budget .Sharing the sector’s expectations, HAI President K B Kachru said the hotel industry deserves stronger policy support given its contribution to GDP, employment generation and foreign exchange earnings. Kachru is also Chairman, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group, PTI reported.“Policymakers should prioritise sector-specific reforms to drive growth and resilience in the hospitality sector,” Kachru said in a statement .“The hotel sector should be given due recognition for its significant contribution to GDP, jobs, and foreign exchange earnings. The key policy interventions are according the infrastructure status and allowing industry benefits to hotels,” he added .According to Kachru, granting harmonised infrastructure status to hotels would improve access to finance through longer loan tenures and lower interest rates, ease capital availability and reduce project delays caused by financial constraints. He said this would help unlock investment and enable the sector to play a larger role in employment generation and in achieving India’s vision of an Aatmanirbhar Viksit Bharat.The HAI president also flagged the need to further improve ease of doing business in the sector by cutting down the number and cost of approvals, no-objection certificates and clearances required to build and operate hotels.“A single-window clearance mechanism is a provision that requires urgent attention. Reinstating the rewards scheme for forex earnings, higher rates of depreciation for hotels are recommended,” Kachru said .
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