In order to make India an attractive destination for domestic and international tourists, while presenting Budget 2020, Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to allocate ₹2500 crores to the tourism industry and ₹3150 crores for Ministry of Culture. She also proposed building new museums and renovating major museums in India to boost tourism. We are from Incredible India, so we are already excited to know that we will soon have more places to add to our bucket list in the country.
What’s In It?
Nirmala Sitharaman revealed the development of on-site museums at 5 archaeological sites in the states of Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. She further stated during her second Union Budget that on-site museums at Sivasagar in Assam, Hastinapur in Uttar Pradesh, Dholavira in Gujarat, Rakhigarhi in Haryana and Adichanallur in Tamil Nadu would be developed. A tribal museum in Ranchi would also be set up.
The Minister announced the proposal of setting up an Indian Institute of Heritage and Conservation under the Ministry of Culture. She stated that for the Budget 2020-21, ₹2500 Crores will be allocated to the Ministry of Tourism and ₹3150 crores will be allocated to the Ministry of Culture. She highlighted the improvement of tourism revenues due to better ranks and stated that India had moved up from rank 65 in 2014 to 34 in 2019 in the Travel & Tourism Competitive Index (World Economic Forum). She added that due to this there has been a rise in Foreign Exchange earnings by 7.4% to ₹1.88 lakh crores for January 2019 from ₹1.75 lakh crores.
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What’s More?
While presenting Budget 2020, the government proposed the establishment of a maritime museum to highlight Harappan Age at Lothal, Ahmedabad, by the Ministry of Shipping. Nirmala Sitharaman revealed that there will be a Numismatics and Trade Museum in Kolkata, which will be situated in the ancient Old Mint building. Ranchi will also have a Tribal Museum for which the centre will provide support. Did you know Odisha Tourism Now Has Destination Wedding Packages To Promote Tourism?
Nirmala Sitharaman threw light on how states play an important role in the proposed schemes and for the growth and employment generation. She stated that the growth of tourism is directly related to growth and employment. She emphasised that states have a critical role to play. And she expects state governments to develop a road map for certain identified destinations and formulate financial plans during 2021, only against this will grants be made available to states in 2020-2021. In order to support the UDAAN scheme, 100 more airports were also announced by the Minister by 2024. This was done to further strengthen the tourism industry in the country. With more airports and museums, we hope the tourism sector will witness a growth in revenues and employment. In the light of tourism, Odisha Will Soon Have Beach Shacks To Promote Tourism