17 iconic tourist sites to be developed as world-class destinations: Sitharaman

Around 17 iconic tourism sites are being developed as world-class destinations, said Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting her maiden Budget in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

"Around 17 iconic tourism sites are being developed as world-class destinations and the digital repository is proposed for preserving tribal history," said Sitharaman.

The economic survey, which was tabled in the Parliament on Thursday, stressed that there was a need to strengthen the coordination mechanism of various Ministries and stakeholders to resolve issues in the promotion of tourism in the country.

The State governments need to be sensitised about tourism being a major driver of employment and poverty alleviation, it said.

Highlighting a sharp slowdown in the tourism sector in 2018, the survey stated that the foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in 2018-19 stood at 10.6 million compared with 10.4 million in 2017-18.

"In terms of growth, the growth rate of FTAs declined from 14.2% in 2017-18 to 2.1% in 2018-19," the report said.

The Survey also showed that FDI in hotel and tourism also declined from $1,132 million in 2017-18 to $1,076 million in 2018-19.