Just ₹3.5 crore allocated to promote India as tourist destination in FY27

Tourism budget less than a tenth of FY26 spends; industry to seek FinMin intervention

India will spend ₹3.5 crore in FY27 to promote itself as a tourist destination across global markets. This is less than a tenth of this financial year’s spending. 

It will spend nothing on promoting domestic tourism next year, versus ₹60 crore in this financial year ending March. 

The sharp reduction and complete withdrawal of funds has the tourism and travel industry worried, with some saying that the government should reconsider. 

According to Budget documents, the allocation for overseas promotion and publicity, including market development assistance, has been kept at ₹3.5 crore for the coming financial year, a sharp reduction from ₹43.5 crore it will spend in FY26 ending March. 

The allocation for domestic promotion and publicity including market development assistance has been brought down to nil, from ₹137 crore in Budget Estimates (BE) for FY26 and ₹60 crore according to Revised Estimates (RE) for FY26. 

While the ministry of tourism has outlined the objective of the overseas promotion programme as positioning India globally as ‘the most favoured destination’ through initiatives including ‘vigorous publicity and marketing campaigns,’ industry executives said achieving this goal would be near impossible with such a razor-thin budget. 

This is more in the context of India’s stated ambition to attract 100 million foreign tourist arrivals by 2047. 

“At a time when India is positioning itself as a global destination and aiming to scale up inbound tourism, such steep cuts in promotional budgets send the wrong signal. We strongly urge the government to reconsider and restore adequate funding for overseas promotion to support growth, jobs and foreign exchange inflows,” Ravi Gosain, president, Indian Association of Tour Operators, told Business Standard.   

Inbound tourism contributed over ₹2.8 trillion in 2024 and around ₹1.8 trillion for the nine months ended September 2025. The sector supports over 40 million jobs in India, directly and indirectly, Gosain added. 

Rajiv Mehra, General Secretary of Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality, said industry was ‘very disappointed’ with the development, especially since it has been demanding for a higher budget for overseas promotions and marketing and a revamp of the Incredible India campaign. This would, in turn, help push up the number of foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) which are critical for the Indian tourism sector since they lead to valuable foreign exchange earnings. 

While FTAs are still below the 2019 levels, reeling from the impact of the pandemic, forex earnings have increased albeit at a low growth pace.   

“The sharp reduction in allocation for overseas promotion and publicity is a concern. Tourism and hospitality stakeholders have consistently highlighted the need to invest in Brand India, diversify source markets, and raise per-visitor spend, particularly as competition from other destinations intensifies. Achieving 100 million FTAs by 2047 will require consistent, targeted overseas marketing, stronger destination branding, and deeper engagement in key long-haul and high-spend source markets,” Mandeep Lamba, president and CEO, South Asia at HVS Anarock told Business Standard. 

The allocation, or the absence of it, is in sharp contrast to the importance given to tourism in the Budget speech of finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday. However, analysts also pointed to the consistent growth of travel within the country with domestic tourist visits rising year-on-year becoming near self-sustaining. It is driven by rising incomes, better connectivity, evolving middle-class leisure preferences and economic growth across the country. 

“Nil allocation for domestic tourism promotion suggests a strategic shift in how the government views demand dynamics. With India’s economy maturing and consumption strengthening, policymakers appear to believe that domestic tourism now has sufficient organic momentum and no longer requires direct promotional support,” Lamba said. 

To be sure, majority of the tourism ministry’s Budget allocation of ₹2,438 crore in 2026 has been towards creating infrastructure, primarily the Swadesh Darshan scheme for which ₹1,900 crore has been kept aside, three times higher than the revised estimate of FY26. Budget for the Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD) scheme has also nearly doubled to ₹245 crore.