The finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has increased budget for the tourism sector to Rs 2,449.62 crore in the interim Budget 2024-25 announced on February 1, about 44.7 percent more than the revised figure for the current fiscal.
In previous budget , The tourism ministry was initially given Rs 2,400 crore which got revised to Rs 1,692.10 crore.
The same for the overseas promotion which includes promotion and publicity including market development assistance , getting allocation of 100 Crore in the previous budget , has been reduced to Rs 3 crore in FY25 Budget.
This tourism allotment in it, basically comprises two heads – establishment expenditure of the centre and central sector schemes.For first one , goverment has allocated Rs 100.28 crore in 2024-2025.Major allocation was seen in the second one as government has allocated huge amount increase of 2080.03 crore from previous year’s 1294 crore.
An overlooked overseas promotion in Budget….
Though the government is increasing efforts to promote domestic tourism but its efforts towards attracting foreign tourists to India have not picked up pace.
Due to the decline in allocation for overseas promotion in 2024, the total budget for promotion and publicity has come down to Rs 179 crore from Rs 195 crore in the previous year.
Notably , in last year, government has given a postive outlook towards Tourism by saying that it offers immense attraction for domestic as well as foreign tourists. There is a large potential to be tapped in tourism and the sector holds huge opportunities for jobs and entrepreneurship for youth in particular.
“We welcome the increase in budgetary allocation to around Rs 2,000 crore from last financial year’s around Rs 1,600 crore and mention of branding in the Budget speech of the Finance Minister. But we must remember that unless we don’t do roadshows overseas, familiarisation trips and publicity campaigns abroad, till then we will not be able to draw (foreign) tourists to our country. Every country in our neighbourhood is courting Indian tourists but our effort towards drawing tourists from abroad is zilch. We have to understand that we need to compete with other nations. The urgency and the importance this matter should receive are still missing,” said Rajiv Mehra, President, the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO).
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