kolkata the travel trade fraternity fears international tours that were just beginning to revive after taking a twoandahalfyear hit due to the pandemic will again see a slump following the proposal to collect 20 tax from outbound passengers two leading travel trade bodies are drafting letters to union finance minister nirmala sitharaman requesting a rollback of the proposalin the budget the tax collected at source tcs has been hiked by four times from 5 to 20 on both overseas tour packages and remittances without any threshold exemption this is in addition to the 5 gst that is levied on the travel invoiceaccording to travel agents the proposal would deter many middle class travellers particularly those in service from taking foreign trips for a family of four who need to book two rooms the cost could go up by as much as rs 28000 for a sevenday trip to east asia or west asia by rs 84000 for a 14day trip to europe and rs 126 lakh for a threeweek trip to the usthe tcs is only applicable on tour packages purchased from indian operators and not on hotel bookings by the travel online through an international travel portal