| dc.description.abstract | Goods and Services Tax is a consumption-based, national-level, comprehensive
indirect tax levied on goods and services. Though it was introduced for the first time
by France in 1954, today, out of 195 countries of the world, 175 (about 90%) have
implemented GST in one form or another form. In India, GST was implemented on
1st July 2017. It is the most ambitious and significant tax reform, which resulted in a
paradigm shift in the indirect tax regime of India after its independence. GST is a
transparent tax system for eradicating black money and corruption and developing a
new governance culture. The technology-driven GST system will benefit all the
stakeholders such as government, industry, distribution channels, consumers, etc.
(Rao, B. A., & Nagayya, D., 2017). Implementing the GST system offers certain
advantages to businesses such as Uniform tax, Single taxable event, Single tax
authority, Easy tax compliance, Better transparency, No cascading effect, Seamless
ITC, etc. The service sector in India accounts for 60% of GDP and employs 30% of
India’s workforce. It is a significant contributor to India’s economic growth and
development. Further, the sector grows at an average rate of 8 - 9 % per annum.
However, the sector was almost outside the purview of taxation up to GST reforms.
Tourism is one of the major components of the service sector and India is one of the
key destinations for tourists across the world. In its world ranking of 50 most beautiful
countries, Forbes recently ranked India as the 7th most beautiful country (Hindustan
Times, September 27, 2023). In 2022, the country’s foreign exchange earnings from
tourism was 16,926 million US dollars, the number of foreign tourists to India was
over 6.19 million and the number of domestic tourist visits has become 1731.01
million. Also, the growth of tourism provides entrepreneurial opportunities for youth,
women, and marginalized groups of society.
In this context, the study examines the impact of GST reforms on the key tourism
performance indicators of tourist resorts in Kerala. The study is both analytical and
descriptive in nature. The primary as well as secondary data were used for the study.
Primary data were collected using a structured questionnaire that was either handed
over to tourist resort administrators directly or mailed to them. A multi-stage simple
random sampling technique was used to select sample units for the study. A total of
552 tourist resorts were selected from the three sampling frames concerning three
regions using computer-generated random numbers. The statistical tools such as
percentages, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, Chi-square test, independent t-test,ANOVA test, CFA, CB- SEM, etc., were employed with the help of IBM SPSS 26.0,
AMOS 23.0, and the Stats Tools Package.
The study reveals that most tourist resort administrators are more aware of various
aspects of GST. However, their awareness levels vary, particularly in diverse settings.
Further, the analysis of the perception of resort administrators reveals that the tourist
resorts in Kerala experience all the GST-driven advantages such as uniform tax, single
taxable vent, single tax authority, easy tax compliance, better transparency, no
cascading effect, and seamless input tax credits, at above average levels. The
researcher also investigates the extent of impact the GST-driven advantages have on
various performance indicators of tourist resorts, classified as financial efficiency,
marketing efficiency, operating efficiency, tourist experience, and social performance
indicators. Based on the Structural Equation Modelling, the study confirmed that the
GST-driven advantages positively impact financial, marketing, operational, social,
and tourist experience indicators of tourist resorts in Kerala. These findings
underscore the key role of GST reform in improving the overall performance of tourist
resorts, positioning them to be more competitive and financially sustainable in the
tourism sector of Kerala. We may expect the new reform will be a boon to India's
tourism sector in general and Kerala in particular. | en_US |
