Draft National Tourism Policy 2022 12 th

12.7.2. Grant of Industry status 
In order to reduce the operational costs of hospitality projects, the States will be 
encouraged to grant the hospitality projects, ‘Industry Status’ and levy property tax 
and other utility charges at par with manufacturing industry. 
12.7.3. Rationalization of taxation
There is need to further rationalize the taxation on hospitality industry to make them 
more competitive. The current rates in India are on higher sides than most of the 
competing tourism destinations and there need to be reviewed and rationalized. 
There are sector specific taxation issues also such as cruise tourism, which will be 
reviewed for their rationalization. 
12.7.4. GST refund to foreign tourists 
Ministry of Tourism will take up with the concerned authorities to expedite the 
modalities for refund of GST on goods purchased by foreign tourists.
12.7.5. Investment incentives for tourism and hospitality projects 
The State governments provide a variety of incentives to attract investment in the 
manufacturing industries. Keeping in view that hospitality industry is crucial for 
growth of tourism, the States will be encouraged to provide similar incentives to the 
hospitality industry under their industrial development policies including capital 
subsidies on new investments. The Ministry of Tourism will analyze the State Policies 
for granting incentives for tourism sector and synergize with Central incentives to 
attract the investment. Further, the State policies will also be benchmarked and best 
practices will be advocated to other States. Ministry of Tourism will also explore the 
possibility of production linked incentives for hospitality and tourism projects. 
12.8. 
Ease of Doing Business
The Policy recognizes that travel, tourism and hospitality falls under the purview of 
several departments and the sector faces several challenges related to regulatory 
compliances. In order to enhance ease of doing business in tourism sector, the 
Ministry of Tourism will work with other line Ministries and State Governments to 

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further streamline the regulations and their implementation with focus on deploying 
digital technologies and self-certifications. The Ministry will follow up with the States 
to rationalize the number of licenses required to start a new business in hospitality 
and tourism sector, number of application forms and time limit for renewal of these 
licenses during operational phase.
The clearance will be integrated with National 
Single Window System.