Tourism policy to include separate incentives for different segments

The proposed 'New Tourism Policy' of the Orissa government will have specific incentives on different tourism segments like eco-tourism, beach tourism, religious tourism and tribal tourism to name.

This decision was taken at a high-level meeting held recently under the chairmanship of the state Chief Secretary B K Pattnaik.

“The proposed tourism policy would be finalized soon after including separate incentives for different tourism segments. The comments of the different stakeholders have been incorporated and the final tourism policy will be broadly in line with the draft tourism policy”, an official source told Business Standard.

With a view to encourage investments on tourism infrastructure in Orissa, the state tourism department is mulling to offer investment subsidy on different projects.

The investment subsidy scheme which has been incorporated in the draft tourism policy would hinge on the scale of investments and also on the regions where the tourism projects come up.

Micro tourism units with an investment up to Rs 25 lakh can avail an investment subsidy of 25 per cent in special tourism zones (STZs) and 20 per cent in other regions. For the mini units with investments in the range of Rs 25-50 lakh, the investment subsidy would be 20 per cent of the investment amount or Rs 7.5 lakh for the projects coming up in the STZs.

For other regions in the state, the mini tourism units are entitled to an investment subsidy of 15 per cent of the invested amount or Rs five lakh.Similarly, the small units pumping in Rs 50 lakh-Rs one crore can enjoy an investment subsidy up to 10 per cent of the invested amount or Rs 7.5 lakh. In case of projects being developed in STZs, they can avail an investment subsidy of 15 per cent or Rs 10 lakh.

The medium as well as large tourism units are also eligible for interest subsidy on term loans. The medium units who invest in the range of Rs 1-10 crore are eligible for an interest subsidy of five per cent on term loans while the large tourism units with investments from Rs 10-50 crore can get an interest subsidy on term loans.

In case of mega projects with investment exceeding Rs 50 crore, the state government may consider a special package of incentives except tax based incentives on a case to case basis.

According to the draft prepared by the state tourism department, all tourism projects shall be exempted from payment of entry tax on purchase of raw materials for the entire construction period or for a period of three years whichever is lower.

The waiver of entry tax would be applicable to projects like hotels, heritage hotels, resorts, service apartments spa and wellness centres, amusement parks, art and crafts villages, golf courses, convention centres, adventure tourism projects and eco-tourism projects to name a few.

Besides waiver of entry tax, the tourism department has decided to extend the 50 per cent exemption in stamp duty to hotel projects. Presently, all the projects barring the hotel projects benefit from 50 per cent exemption on applicable stamp duty as provided under the provisions of the Orissa Industrial Policy Resolution, 2007 for priority sector units.