A delegation of leading Online Travel Agents (OTAs) of India called upon Union Minister of State (I/C) Tourism & Culture Shri Prahlad Singh Patel today in New Delhi. The discussion centered around calibrated opening up of the hotels and accommodation units, issuing post lockdown protocols for safety and hygiene for accommodation units and travel related activities.

The Union Minister shared the plan of Ministry for rebooting the travel sector starting with Domestic Tourism and also listened to the inputs and ideas put forward by the OTAs.

The delegation further discussed matters relating to partnership with Ministry of Tourism on ways to leverage the Incredible India digital platform to provide better access to various tourist services. The other areas of cooperation included creating an e-market place for tourist guides and reform in Tax Collected at Source (TCS) and Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) for the OTA Sector.

The delegation also requested the MoS (I/C) Tourism & Culture to liberalise the Ministry of Tourism’s OTA 2018 guidelines by making it simple and based on principle of self certification powered with industry driven quality assurance and grievance redressal system.

Senior Officials from Ministry of Tourism were also presented in the meeting and OTAs were represented by Ritesh from OYO, Deep Kalra from Make my trip, yatra.com founder CEO Dhruv shringi and Rikant Pittie From EaseMyTrip.com.

OTAs are online companies who through their website/portals enable consumers to book various travel related services directly via Internet. They are 3rd party agents reselling trips, hotels, cars, flights, vacation packages etc. provided / organised by others.

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NB/AKJ/OA