Hospitality sector to get industry status soon

The inspection committee will visit 181 non-classified hotels that have registered and applied since June 2021 in Pune region

Very soon, the hospitality sector mainly hotels will get industry status, and inspection of 181 hotels has started from the Pune region Wednesday onwards. Recently, the Rajasthan government awarded industry status to the hotel industry to boost investment in the tourism sector.

Very soon, the hospitality sector mainly hotels will get industry status, and inspection of 181 hotels has started from the Pune region Wednesday onwards. (REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)

Deputy director of the Maharashtra tourism department, Supriya Karmarkar, said, “The tourism directorate of Pune is the first one to commence inspection on August 3 and 4. The inspection committee and the appointed agency will be visiting a total of 181 non-classified hotels that have registered and applied since June 2021 in the Pune region. We carried out some visits on Wednesday.”

Dhananjay Sawalkar, joint director, directorate of tourism (DoT), said, “So far, 446 applications across Maharashtra have been received by the department of tourism. If these hotels are found to fulfil all the said criteria during the inspection, they will be eligible to get industry status. This will make electricity charges, water bills, property tax and non-agricultural tax available to the registered hotels as per industrial rates.”

Public relations officer of the tourism department, Indira Thakur, said, “Hotels can continue to register themselves with the Maharashtra tourism department and avail the benefits attached with the industry status.”

Recently, the Rajasthan government awarded industry status to the hotel industry as part of a nationwide campaign to attract investment in the tourism sector. However, Maharashtra was the first state to come up with this policy. Sources from the tourism department, said, “The government of Maharashtra had awarded industry status to the hospitality sector in April 1999 but that remained only on paper and wasn’t implemented. In 2020, the state government issued a government resolution (GR) announcing the criteria for levying taxes and charges at industrial rates for non-classified hotels. Since then, non-classified hotels have been urged to register and apply to avail the benefits.”

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Small hotels having 10 rooms can also apply for industry status. If they fulfil the criteria, hotels will be able to get benefits in terms of electricity charges, water bills, property tax and non-agricultural tax. While the existing hotels fall in the commercial category, they will then get industrial rates.