Tourism Needs to Become National Priority: K.B. Kachru

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day speech, had said that tourism is one of the Five Pillars of growth for India. “Well, that pillar is shaking today…. If our hospitality industry goes down so many other industries will also go down,” said the hospitality industry veteran K. B. Kachru while participating in a widely watched and engaging webinar 'Getting Indian Hospitality Back... Hear The Leaders' organised by BW HOTELIER. Kachru is the Chairman, Emeritus & Principal Advisor, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group.

Kachru said tourism and hospitality have to become a national priority and that the government and the leaders will have to take ownership of it. “We are not begging, we want the economy to grow. We want support to survive. Many of the owners don’t have money to pay bills. If we can’t survive now, how will we revive and thrive later,” asked Kachru. According to him at least 42 million jobs are at stake in the hospitality sector. “The government has to do something. We need to new create revenue streams,” he said.

Commenting upon the lack of help and support in the economic stimulus measures recently announced by the central government, Kachru wondered if the government really cared about the sector. 

“Despite our industry losing almost 10 lakh crore rupees we have not got help (from the central government). It is an issue we need to talk about. We really want to know whether the government cares. I don’t know if I am politically correct in making a statement like this but we all would remember that the Prime Minister in his Independence Day speech said that tourism is one of the 5 pillars of our growth. That pillar is shaking today. And I feel if something is not done, we are not only at ground zero, we are absolutely down. If our hospitality industry goes down so many other industries will also go down. We want them to build some relief. We are primarily a management franchisee company. Believe me, we are in a huge problem. Everybody we talk to says yes to that," said Kachru commending the good work done by All the industry associations. 

"In such a long period of time, I have never seen all the trade associations coming together in such a manner with one objective – please help us survive. We are left with no choice but we need to pay costs, otherwise job losses will increase. I think that while that is the survival package it is also time we need to be self-reliant. And we have to learn that and ensure that we move ahead to survive,” said Kachru in his opening commentary to a question posed by the moderator and eminent print and TV journalist, columnist and talk show host, Vir Sanghvi.

Kachru said the need of the hour is ‘support from the government’. “And for the government to take certain steps towards moving away from the current situation to a brighter and better economy,” he added. 

“I would go ahead on what Mr. Patu (Patu Keswani, Chairman and MD, Lemon Tree Hotels) has indicated. We have weathered many storms, over hundreds of years, in the recent past also. I feel we will get over this and we will be close to what we were before in next 18 to 24 months but that is my belief. Having said that we have to move on. We can’t wait expecting things to happen," said Kachru.

Commenting on the suggestion made by Keswani on "restructuring ourselves to battle these current challenges", Kachru said the hospitality sector will need to "look for new possibilities". "And one of the key possibilities, I would talk about, is domestic tourism. I think, that is the next big thing," he said. 

Almost all panelists agreed that there is a huge market both at Centre and State for domestic tourism. "They (government) should take it seriously because contours of domestic tourism are slightly different and they need to be examined in a proper manner. New protocols need to be established," said Kachru. 

"And I will come back to validation of safety. We have to actually increase the confidence of the people to come back to us. With regard to the government and domestic tourism I think some of the infrastructural changes are at the right status. I feel unless they do something of changing the status of the hospitality industry there will be no use," said Kachru. 

"We have to look at minute things. Everybody wants to get out of their homes and drive 4 to 6 hours as they have been locked on for so long. I feel all of us have to take ownership for this and tourism has to be a national priority. All of the leadership of the industry and government need to take some steps. If tourism stimulation is the key then we need to change a few things,” is what he added.