New Delhi, Jul 19 (KNN) In a bid to revive hospitality sector in the country, the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) has now urged the new Union Minister for Tourism, Culture and Development of North-Eastern Region G Kishan Reddy for required steps.

The association recommended some measures to the minister and also highlighted concerns for the revival of the sector.

FHRAI highlighted the need for support under Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) and Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) schemes, GST rationalization, policy reforms, enabling Ease of Doing Business, challenges faced by the industry from Copyright Societies and the amendments required in the Copyright Act, 1957 along with challenges faced from the Online Travel Aggregators (OTAs) and Food Service Aggregators (FSAs).

"We briefed him on the ground realities of the hospitality sector and have submitted a comprehensive representation recommending the topmost priorities for its revival. The pandemic has completely battered the hospitality industry and in the wish-list presented to the Minister, we have highlighted the most immediate reforms required from the government,” said Pradeep Shetty, Joint Secretary, FHRAI.

After listening all the suggestions and recommendations, the minister assured support of his ministry to clear bottlenecks and introduce reforms to expedite the recovery of the sector and assured to meet the industry stakeholders at regular intervals to seek their inputs, FHRAI said.

The minister also promised that the ministry will come out with a National Tourism Policy shortly with a road map for the fast recovery of the sector.