According to Hotels & Restaurants Association of Western India (HRAW), service tax is now applicable for fully or partially air-conditioned restaurants. It was first imposed on banquets, thereafter on air-conditioned restaurants serving liquor and now it is imposed on all restaurants with air-conditioning including partly air-conditioned establishments.
D S Advani, president, HRAWI said, "With international tourism increasing year-on-year and the continued strength of domestic tourism, India will witness incredible opportunities for growth. India attracted about 6 million tourists last year against 18 million who chose to travel to Singapore or 9 million who visited Dubai. The government should increase the number of countries whose citizens will get Indian Visa on arrival. This will help to attract more tourists to the country which, in turn, will add to the foreign exchange revenues. Also, government should make stronger efforts to achieve the target of doubling the number of in-bound tourists as per the 12th Five-Year Plan."
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The association has also highlighted the issues in states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Union Territories of Dadra & Nagra Haveli, Daman and Diu. In Maharashtra, HRAW has also demanded for the creation of tourism specific zones in key cities of Maharashtra starting with Mumbai.
The association says that property tax issue in Mumbai as well as excise related matters, simplification of procedures with various departments needs to be rationalised. In Gujarat, HRAW has asked electricity duty to be reduced to 10 per cent from 25 percent, additional floor space index (FSI) of 25 per cent to be made available to existing hotels, VAT on natural gas to be reduced from 15 per cent to 4 per cent as applicable to other industries.
Currently, the association has a membership database comprising over 1400 members, covering Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa and the Union territories of Daman, Diu and Silvassa.