Budget 2020: Govt allocates Rs 2,500 cr for development of tourism sector

To make India an attractive destination for both international and domestic tourists, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday proposed to allocate Rs 2,500 crores in the Budget for FY2020-21 for the tourism sector.

Besides tourism, Sitharaman also proposed to allocate Rs 3,150 crore for Ministry of Culture.

In order to have well-trained resources in the disciplines of museology and archaeology, the Finance Minister 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," Sitharaman said in her Budget speech.

Highlighting improved tourism revenues over the last few years, the Finance Minister said, "India has moved up from rank 65 in 2014 to 34 in 2019 in the Travel and Tourism Competitive Index (World Economic Forum)."

Due to this, Foreign Exchange earnings grew 7.4 per cent to Rs 1.88 lakh crores for the period January 2019 from Rs 1.75 lakh crores, she said.

The Minister proposed 8 new museums, which includes building infrastructure around 5 iconic sites, besides proposing renovation of 5 major museums across the country.

The Union Finance Minister proposed five Archeological sites to be set-up/developed as Iconic Sites with on-site Museums at Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Hastinapur (Uttar Pradesh), Shivsagar (Assam), Dholavira (Gujarat) and Adichanallur (Tamil Nadu).