The Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has presented his maiden Budget Speech in Parliament today. Jaitley said the Government intends to usher in a policy regime that would bring the desired growth, lower inflation, sustained level of external sector balance and prudent policy stance.
According to Peter Kerkar, director, Cox & Kings, "The government's emphasis on travel and tourism in this year's budget was on expected lines as this government has shown an intent and the willingness to use travel and tourism to promote inclusive growth, as this sector contributes approximately seven per cent of India's GDP and it helped create over 40 million jobs last year.
The thrust on pilgrimage and heritage tourism with emphasis on Buddhist tourism circuit centered around Gaya in Bihar will enable India to attract this segment of tourists from South East Asia, Japan and Sri Lanka. The proposal to earmark a sum of Rs 100 crore to revive heritage tourism will lead to development and promotion of new tourism circuits. The proposal to develop five more tourism circuits will enable India to broad base its tourism offerings, which till today is concentrated on a few circuits.
The move to develop an international convention centre in Goa is welcome as India can then attract huge conventions and conferences that do not consider India at the moment. This segment does not consider India as an option as we do not have world class convention facilities. Goa is the ideal venue with its air and rail connectivity and this will encourage more air traffic to the destination.
Development of more airports under PPP is the need of the hour as India lacks airport infrastructure in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. It now depends on how fast the government lays out the road map and makes it attractive for private players to bid for such projects.
The introduction of Electronic Travel authorisation (Evisas) to be started in 9 airports will definitely lead to an increase in FTA (Foreign Tourist Arrivals), thus increasing the Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs)."
Disclaimer: IRIS has taken due care and caution in compilation of data for its web site. Information has been obtained by IRIS from sources which it considers reliable. However, IRIS does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information. IRIS especially states that it has no financial liability whatsoever to any user on account of the use of information provided on its website.
