Skift Take
Earlier this year, the Indian government gave a boost to the tourism budget for development, but cut down the global promotion allocation by 97%. Now, as the final Budget is around the corner, the industry is hoping for a more significant resolution to its challenges.
In February, the Indian government had allocated INR 24.5 billion ($293 million) to the tourism sector as part of the interim budget, a slight increase from the prior year’s initial allocation of INR 24 billion ($290 million). But the Union Budget also reduced the global promotion allocation by a staggering 97% to just INR 30 million ($361,000).
The reduction came even as there have been significant efforts to upgrade and develop destinations across the country and travel makes up a bigger part of the Indian economy: A total contribution of about $200 billion, or just over 6% to the country’s GDP, according to the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF). The government wants to increase this contribution to 10%.
The recent elections saw the return of Modi as Prime Minister, but the government in power is a coalition one with a budget to be presented later this month.
Skift spoke to travel executives to better understand what they want out of the budget and government policy:
They Want 'Indu