Full Refund Request for Palace on Wheels (Luxury Train) by RTDC for Foreign Tourists which were canceled due to Covid-19

Full Refund Request for Palace on Wheels (Luxury Train) by RTDC for Foreign Tourists which were canceled due to Covid-19

5th June 2020  

Shri Ashok Gehlot 

Government of Rajasthan 

Chief Minister Office 

Secretariat 
Jaipur-302005

Hon’ble Chief Minister Sir, 

Sub: Full Refund Request for Palace on Wheels (Luxury Train) by RTDC for Foreign Tourists which were canceled due to Covid-19 

Greetings from IATO! 

May I draw your kind attention to our letters dated 3rd March and 11th March 2020 with regard to our request for a full refund of advance payment made for bookings of Luxury Train (Palace on Wheels) which were canceled due to COVID -19. A huge amount has been paid by the tour operators as advance payments to Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation on this account as advance payment. We have sent a number of emails/reminders, but there is no response at all or acknowledgment of our email sent to Rajasthan Tourism and Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation.

Foreign tourists could not visit India due to cancellation of E-Visa/Visa from different countries on different dates starting with cancellation of e-visa/visa for Chinese nationals on 1st February 2020 followed by visa cancellations for different countries and finally cancellations of e-visa/visas on 13th March 2020 from all countries. Also during the period of February and March, DGCA ordered a suspension of flights from/to certain countries followed by the closure of all international and domestic flights on 25th March 2020. During this period COVID -19 was fast spreading globally due to which a lot of restrictions were made by many countries and tourist movements were stopped. All the foreign tourists visiting India were also told to leave the country immediately from the second week of March.

Due to the above reasons, all bookings made for foreign tourists by our members got canceled including cancellations for travel on Palace on Wheels and our foreign operators/ clients are asking for a refund.   

The problem our members are facing is that so far no refund has been made by Rajasthan Tourism/RTDC for bookings made and canceled for the foreign tourists. Now our foreign agents are threatening to take us to the court if full refund is not made to them under force majeure conditions. 

It is almost unlikely, that foreign tourists who have booked India tour, would re-book the tour as we do not know whether he/she is still healthy, he has not lost the job, or business has not been closed so far.  Foreign clients presently are fighting for survival like all of us and have no intention to travel abroad in the near future. Tour operators in India are also facing an acute shortage of funds due to zero billing and they are not in a position to refund unless they get back the refund from Rajasthan Tourism/RTDC.  

This is to request you to kindly intervene and issue directives to the concerned authorities in Rajasthan Tourism/RTDC to give a full refund to the tour operators with Nil cancellation charges at the earliest enable refund the same to our foreign clients at the earliest.

It would not be out of place to mention here that Rajasthan is the most tourist-friendly state and all our members are aggressively promoting Rajasthan and Palace on Wheels in overseas markets. We need to keep the image of Rajasthan high with Atithi Devo Bhava needs to cooperate with foreign counterparts/clients in this time of global crisis.  This will help us to secure future business and continue to promote Rajasthan as one of the most preferred tourist destinations both in global and domestic markets.

Looking forward to your urgent intervention and necessary directives in the matters.

Thanking you and with best regards,   

Sincerely, 

Pronab Sarkar

President

(M) 9811102111

 

Copy to:- 

Shri Vishvendra Singh

Hon’ble Minister of Tourism 

Government of Rajasthan 

Jaipur

 

Shri Kuldeep Ranka

Principal Secretary
Government of Rajasthan 

Jaipur 

 

Mrs. Sreya Guha

Principal Secretary of Tourism

Government of Rajasthan 

Jaipur  

 

Dr. Bhanwar Lal

Managing Director

Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation

Government of Rajasthan

Jaipur 

 

Mr. Bhim Singh

Chairman

IATO Rajasthan Chapter

C/o. Rajasthan Tours Pvt. Ltd.

Jaipur

 

 

11th March 2020

Shri Ashok Gehlot

Government of Rajasthan

Chief Minister Office

Secretariat
Jaipur-302005

Hon’ble Chief Minister Sir,

 

Sub: Request for nil Cancellations charges for the cancellations due to Coronavirus for the booking made by foreign tourists on Luxury Trains run by RTDC

May I draw your kind attention to our letter/email dated 3rd March 2020 on the above subject.

As you know Coronavirus has spread in many countries and movements from various countries like China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Japan, Germany, France, Spain, South East, and Far countries has badly affected. e-Visa and Normal visa for nationals of many countries have been suspended by the Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of Home Affairs and tourists are not being allowed to enter India. This also applies to the nationals of other countries residing in these highly affected countries or have traveled to these countries after 1st February 2020.

All this has resulted in a lot of cancellations being received by many of our members from all the affected countries including cancellations for the luxury trains run by RTDC  

All the airlines have waived off the cancellation charges on their domestic flights operating in India. Similarly, all the major hotels have waived off the cancellation charges and all the airlines and hotels are making full refunds without any cancellation charges. IRCTC has also agreed to waive off the Cancellations charges and full advance payment is being refunded. But to this date we have not received any positive response from RTDC.     

This is to request you once again to intervene and kindly give your directives to consider our request favorably and a full refund is made for the bookings made for the Luxury trains with Nil cancellations charges to enable refund the same to our foreign clients.

Rajasthan is one of the most tourist-friendly state and preferred destinations for foreign tourists and we need to maintain the same to secure future business.

We need to keep our country’s image high to secure future business and cooperate with foreign counterparts/clients in this time of global crisis.

Looking forward to your support and cooperation.  

Thanking you and with best regards,   

Sincerely,

 

Pronab Sarkar

President

(M) 9811102111

Copy to:-

Shri Vishvendra Singh

Hon’ble Minister of Tourism

Government of Rajasthan

Jaipur

 

Shri Kuldeep Ranka

Principal Secretary
Government of Rajasthan

Jaipur

 

Dr. Kunj Bihari Pandya

Managing Director

Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation

Govt. of Rajasthan

Jaipur

 

Dr. Bhanwar Lal

Director, Tourism

Government of Rajasthan

Jaipur

 

Subject: Cancellations due to Coronavirus and request nil cancellation charges for the bookings made for Luxury Trains run by RTDC

3rd March 2020

Shri Ashok Gehlot

Government of Rajasthan

Chief Minister Office

Secretariat
Jaipur-302005

Hon’ble Chief Minister Sir,

 

Sub: Cancellations due to Coronavirus and request nil cancellation charges for the bookings made for Luxury Trains run by RTDC

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) is the National Apex Body of Tour Operators with a membership of over 1600 across the country. Our membership consists of the nation’s inbound tour operators, travel agents, hotel chains, airlines, state government tourism departments/development corporations, press and media, and other stakeholders in the tourism & hospitality industry. The Membership of IATO controls over 90% of all inbound tourism into India. Most of our members are promoting rail packages including marketing and selling of Luxury Trains run by IRCTC and RTDC i.e. Maharaja Express, Palace on wheels, etc. in overseas markets.    

As you are aware, tourists from China and other affected countries are not being allowed to travel to India and no Visa is being issued to them by the Bureau of Immigration, Government of India. Similarly, travel advisories have been issued for travelers from Italy, South Korea, Japan, and Iran and travelers from other countries who visited these countries with Visa restrictions. Therefore many such tourists are not in a position to visit our country as they are forced to cancel their trip to India, which is resulting in a lot of cancellations being received by our members including cancellations for luxury trains run by IRCTC and RTDC. All such tourists are forced to cancel under these circumstance and there is a fault from their side.

Action taken by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare have resulted that not even a single positive case of Corona Virus has been reported in our country and we really appreciate the steps taken by our Government as this is to safeguard the citizens of India.

Accordingly, we had written the below letter to Principal Secretary (Tourism) cum Chairman Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation on 20th February 2020 and again on 28th February 2020 requesting for nil cancellation charges for such cancellations.  While IRCTC has agreed for the nil cancellations and has agreed for a refund without any cancellation charges, RTDC has not acceded to our request and would levy the full cancellation charges.

Sir, you are aware, we are going through a global crisis and all airlines, hotels, IRCTC is cooperating. We expect RTDC also to consider our request sympathetically for Nil Cancellation charges under force majeure clause and on a humanitarian basis.

Just to inform you, ITB Berlin which is a major tourism fair/mart was scheduled to be held in Belin from 4th - 8th March 2020 has been canceled due to Coronavirus.  

We need your kind intervention and request you to kindly give your directives to consider our request favorably and a full refund is made for the bookings made for the Luxury trains with Nil cancellations charges.

Thanking you and with best regards,

Sincerely,

 

Pronab Sarkar

President

(M) 9811102111

Subject: Cancellations due to Coronavirus and request nil cancellation charges for the bookings made for Luxury Trains run by RTDC

 

28th February 2020

Ms. Sreya Guha

Principal Secretary and Commissioner (Tourism)

Government of Rajasthan

Secretariat

Jaipur – 302005

 

Respected Mrs. Guha,  

Sub: Cancellations due to Coronavirus and request nil cancellation charges for the bookings made for Luxury Trains run by RTDC

May I draw your kind attention to our email dated 20th February 2020 on the above subject.

As you are aware, tourists from China are not being allowed to travel to India and no Visa is being issued. Similarly, travel advisories have been issued for travelers from Italy, South Korea, Japan, and Iran and they are forced to cancel their trip to India, which is resulting in a lot of cancellations being received by our members including cancellations for luxury trains run by IRCTC and RTDC.

We have written the below letter to your good-self on 20th February 2020 requesting for nil cancellation charges. A similar letter was also written to MD, IRCTC.  While IRCTC has agreed for the nil cancellations and has agreed for a refund without any cancellation charges, RTDC has refused to accept our request and would levy the cancellation charges.

Madam, as you are aware, we are going through a global crisis and all airlines, hotels, IRCTC is cooperating. We expect RTDC also to consider our request sympathetically for Nil Cancellation charges under force majeure clause and on a humanitarian basis.

We need your kind intervention and request you to consider our request favorably.

Thanking you and with best regards,

Sincerely,

Pronab Sarkar

President

(M) 9811102111

 

Copy to:-  

 

Dr. Kunj Bihari Pandya

Managing Director

Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation

Govt. of Rajasthan

Paryatan Bhawan, 3rd Floor

Opposite Vidhayak Puri Police Station

M.I. Road, Jaipur- 302001

Rajasthan

 

20th February 2020

Ms. Sreya Guha

Principal Secretary and Commissioner (Tourism)

Government of Rajasthan

Secretariat

Jaipur – 302005

Respected Mrs. Guha,  

Sub: Urgent - Cancellations due to Coronavirus and hotels levying retention charges

As you know Coronavirus is spreading fast out of China and tourist movement from China is getting badly affected as Chinese nationals have been advised not to travel out of the country, in Wuhan, residents have been confined and are not being allowed to leave their home. Similarly, the Indian Government has also issued an advisory for the Indian Travellers not to travel to China. Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India has suspended Visa including e-Visa for tourists from China till further orders.

In this regard, advisories have been issued by General Office of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Government of China and China Association of Travel Services and have advised suspending domestic and foreign group travel and have requested to properly handle the reasonable demands of tourist itineraries, cancellations, and refunds and minimize financial losses. (copies enclosed).  

All this is being done to ensure that Coronavirus does not spread into our country.

Apart from China, countries such as Canada, France, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, South Korea, Japan, India, the U.S., and many other countries have reported cases of the infection.

All this is resulting in a lot of cancellations being received by some of our members especially handling China and other affected countries as informed by our members.

Some of our members have received cancellations for the luxury trains bookings and have approached IATO to help in the matter of getting a refund of advance paid without any cancellation charges.   

Hotels and airlines have agreed to waive off cancellations charges for such cases and have agreed to refund the advance paid with nil cancellation charges due to force majeure of natural calamities and on humanitarian grounds.  

This is to request you to kindly consider this request favorably and give your directives to make a full refund without any cancellations charges for such bookings made for the luxury trains operated by RTDC.    

We need to keep our country’s image high in such a situation and cooperate with foreign counterparts/clients in this difficult time.

Looking forward to your support and cooperation

Thanking you and with best regards,   

Sincerely,

Pronab Sarkar

President

(M) 9811102111

Copy to:-  

Dr. Kunj Bihari Pandya

Managing Director

Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation

Govt. of Rajasthan

Paryatan Bhawan, 3rd Floor

Opposite Vidhayak Puri Police Station

M.I. Road, Jaipur- 302001

Rajasthan