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| Customs exemption on rafts, skis to boost adventure tourism |
| Press Trust of India / New Delhi Jul 06, 2009, 18:45 IST |
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Giving a boost to adventure tourism, the union budget for 2009-10 has exempted customs duty on inflatable rafts, snow-skis, water skis, surf skis, sail boards and other water sports equipment.
Tourism Ministry had sought exemption of adventure sports equipment from customs duty to facilitate import of these items in bulk for adventure tourism.
Tourism Minister Kumari Selja had met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee last week to seek the expemtion of duty on these items in the General Budget.
Currently, only members of Adventure Tour Operators Association of India are allowed to import adventure equipment on payment of custom duty. The cost of such import turns out to be very prohibitive.
Vendors who can import these equipment in bulk are not allowed to import. Consequently, there is a shortage of modern adventure-related equipment.
The service tax exemption on inter-state or intra-state transportation of passengers in a vehicle bearing Contract Carriage Permit announced in the budget would also benefit tourist bus operators.
While tourism was growing at an encouraging pace in 2007, global economic recession led to a fall in foreign tourist arrivals and foreign exchange earnings later.
Against this background, Selja had asked the Finance Minister to provide some incentives in the next Budget to boost the tourism sector.
Though several regions have a tremendous potential of adventure tourism, the growth is being hampered due existing import policy.
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