No more free ride

New Delhi, May 21: Tour operators and travel agents are waking up to a new truth: the days for freebies are over.

The ministry of tourism has rejigged its “overseas marketing support scheme” for tour operators who open offices abroad and are in the business of promoting India as a tourist destination.

The scheme is being amended to make travel agents and tour operators more accountable for the funds they receive.

Earlier, the tour operators and travel agents received funds under this nearly 30-year old scheme in the form of grants.

They didn’t have to show how and where they spent the funds nor produce evidence to show how many foreign tourists they had been able to persuade to go to India.

The money was used to produce direct mailers, advertising and printing brochures.

The ministry has now stopped doling out grants. Instead, it is giving the funds in the form of loans, backed by a bank guarantee, which the tour operators have to repay over a period of three years.

The change in the provisions of the scheme has upset the travel trade with some sections criticising the government for not informing them before making the alterations.

“Any new scheme or alteration to an old scheme should first be communicated to all ministry-recognised tour operators. This will give everyone ? small and big operators ? the opportunity to apply for the loans. The entire system should be transparent,” said Subhash Goyal, president of Indian Association of Tour Operators.

Senior ministry officials, however, disagreed and asserted that there was no bias between small and big tour operators when it came to sanctioning loans.