Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala’s tourism industry has taken a severe beating estimated to be of Rs 25000 crore owing to the COVID pandemic, Kadakampally Surendran, Minister for Tourism has said.
He further added, with all means of travel, including rail and air services being pulled to a complete stop in the state, the tourism sector has nosedived to an all-time dip. The loss has also hit the lives of many who rely on tourism for their livelihood, said Kerala Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran, addressing the media persons here on Tuesday.
Announcing the state’s financial package of Rs 455 crores to revive the tourism industry, the minister said, there are two schemes planned by the government to revive and rejuvenate the industry. The package would be implemented by providing credits with subsidised interest rates for entrepreneurs in the tourism sector and also for others who work in the industry.
Kadakampally Surendran further explained, State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC), entrepreneurs would be provided with credits up to Rs 25 lakh loans. For these loans under the scheme, the state Tourism department would provide a subsidy of 50 per cent on interest. Besides, the workers with the Tourism industry would be provided with Rs 20000 to Rs 30000 loans through Kerala Bank. On these Kerala Bank loans provided at the rate of 9 per cent interest, only 3 per cent interest would be collected from the loanees. Remaining 6 per cent interest would be paid by the Tourism Department.
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As many as 2500 small scale entrepreneurs would be provided with loans of Rs 1 Lakh to Rs 3 Lakh and 2500 large scale entrepreneurs would be provided with Rs 5 lakh to Rs 25 lakhs in loans. These credit schemes will have a moratorium of six months to start repayment, the Minister added.
According to reports, last year, the total revenue from the Tourism industry was calculated at Rs 45000 crore. This has come down by more than half owing to the spread of COVID 19 across the world and in Kerala. According to the statistics, as many as 11.9 lakh foreign tourists and 1.84 crore domestic tourists had visited Kerala last year.
