He had stated that somehow the tourism industry failed to tell politicians that it is a big creator of jobs, while agreeing with their demand for industry status.
From the tourism sector, Kant had said that Thailand has created close to 20 million jobs, Malaysia about 15 million and India 7.8 million.
Chhatwal said while the government’s focus on infrastructure — such as construction of roads, rails and doubling of airports — has had a “direct correlation with the success of the sector”, granting a full infrastructure status will help it grow further in all aspects.
“We have that status, but there are a lot of limitations that were put into it 12 years ago,” he said, adding that the industry status at the state level will also help in making the sector stay competitive.
On the granting of industry status by states, Kachru said while 11 states have done it, there has been a gap in execution.