Tourism sector to get Rs 2,500 crore in Budget 2020-21

New Delhi, February 2, 2020

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday proposed to allocate Rs 2,500 crore in the Union Budget 2020-21 for the tourism sector to make India an attractive destination for both international and domestic tourists.

Presenting the Budget in Parliament, the Minister also proposed to allocate Rs 3,150 crore for the Ministry of Culture.

In order to have well-trained resources in the disciplines of museology and archaeology, she proposed to establish the first Indian Institute of Heritage and Conservation with the status of a deemed university to operate under the Ministry of Culture.

“Acquisition of knowledge in disciplines such as museology and archaeology are essential for collecting and analysing scientific evidence of such findings and for dissemination through high-quality museums,” she added.

Highlighting improved tourism revenues due to better rank, the Finance Minister said, “India had moved up from rank 65 in 2014 to 34 in 2019 in the Travel & Tourism Competitive Index (World Economic Forum).

“Foreign Exchange earnings grew 7.4% to Rs 1.88 lakh crores for the period January 2019 from Rs 1.75 lakh crores,” she added.

In a major bid to revitalise tourism, Sitharaman proposed 8 new museums, which includes building infrastructure around 5 Iconic Sites, besides proposing renovation of 5 major museums across the length and breadth of India.

Five Archaeological sites are to be developed as Iconic Sites with on-site Museums at Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Hastinapur (Uttar Pradesh), Shivsagar (Assam), Dholavira (Gujarat) and Adichanallur (Tamil Nadu).

A Maritime Museum to highlight the Harappan Age will be set up at Lothal, Ahmedabad, by Ministry of Shipping. In Kolkata, the Indian Museum, the oldest in India will be re-curated as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month.

A Numismatics and Trade Museum will be located in the historic Old Mint Building.

Support will be given for setting up Tribal Museum in Ranchi. Renovation and re-curation of four more museums across India will also take place.

NNN