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Dilip Datwani, President, FHRAI- Western India Chapter, said, “Statistics prove that there is a correlation between drunk driving and enforcement, but not between drunk driving and existence of hotels or restaurants. Otherwise, there would be no drunken driving cases or resulting accidents in Bihar and Gujarat where we have total prohibition and yet there are innumerable accidents due to drunk driving. No country has ever banned hotels & restaurants to curb drunk driving.”
Datwani further said “Rs 2,00,000 crores loss to the exchequer and closure of more than one lakh establishments is not a small thing. We would not have minded being sacrificed if the ban were to yield results. But reality is that all the job losses and other damages would be wasted.”
“Total consolidated loss to both states and to the industry will be around 2,20,000 crores. The entire MICE industry including weddings, corporate events will be negatively affected,” said Garish Oberoi, Treasurer, HRANI & Vice President, FHRAI.
“There has been an unprecedented blanket ban on all national highways across the country without seeing the practical aspect of the topography and terrain of the cities, in the process having affected hotels and restaurants, who have invested crores of rupees towards the development of the tourism industry in the country,” continued TS Walia, Vice President, FHRAI.
“Most of the entrepreneurs who bid as part of Government PPP tourism projects along national and state main roads and highways had modelled their cash inflows on these experiences considering room conferencing, food, beverages revenues over their concession periods. A lot of these establishments with significantly reduced business will result in distressed financial assets and may lead to a large scale NPA situation for our banking and financial system and may severely impact the investment climate in tourism and hospitality in India. It will also stall the Indian growth story for many years to come,” added Sudesh Kumar Poddar, EC Member, FHRAI.
Banning the sale of liquor within 500 metres of the highways, the liquor ban on highways has affected at least 1,000 star hotels in Maharashtra including the VIP Lounge at the domestic airport. Maharashtra is expected to lose estimated yearly revenue of Rs 7,000 crore.
Source: travelnewsdigest.in