About a year ago, the state government bestowed industry status upon the tourism and hospitality sector in a bid to boost tourism-related businesses. Presently, there are ongoing efforts to introduce greater flexibility into the sector's regulations. The Principal Secretary to the Government has recently issued a new set of guidelines in pursuit of this goal.

Previously, the criteria for granting industry status to a hotel or resort stipulated a minimum requirement of 20 rooms. However, this has now been revised to just 10 rooms, and the previous prerequisite of a Rs. 2 crore investment has been eliminated. Under the updated regulations, private hotel operators must provide documentation such as the land allotment order issued by RIICO and the Revenue Department to secure the industry certificate. 

Tourism units are required to apply for an entitlement certificate through the SSO portal on the tourism department's service app. This certificate will be processed and approved within 30 days. 

It is worth noting that in the 2022-23 budget, the CM Ashok Gehlot government in the state granted industry status to the tourism and hospitality sector. However, due to complications within NIICO, many tourism units struggled to obtain the necessary certificates. Udaipur, with its thousand-plus hotel resorts, saw only 170 receive this certificate. With the recent simplification of rules, it is expected that more establishments will now qualify for it.