Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) welcomed the restarting of international scheduled commercial flights.
They said that it will give a ray of hope to the hospitality segment and its employees.
The Vice President of FHRAI Gurbaxish Singh Kohli said, “The resumption of scheduled commercial international passenger services from March 27 is a welcome relief. We thank the Govt and Civil Aviation Ministry for it.”
It was followed up with the government to restart international travel especially because most countries have already thrown open their gates for international travellers.
He reported that the hospitality industry’s total revenue in FY 2019-2020 stood at 1.82 lakh crore and it employed over 50 million people during that time.
Gurbaxish Singh Kohli said that, “The industry was anxiously awaiting an announcement on this since early bird gets the worm. Foreign Exchange earnings for the last two Financial Years have been entirely wiped out due to restrictions, which also forced approx 30 per cent of hotels & restaurants to shut business and millions lost their jobs.”
“During the period, the tourism and hospitality industry reported forex earnings of USD 30 billion, making it India’s third-largest foreign exchange earner. The latest announcement has come as a ray of hope for hospitality businesses and those employed in the sector,” Kohli noted.