Budget 2023: Did the Budget Fulfill the Expectations of the Tourism Industry? Read on to find out!

Budget 2023: Spotlight on the Tourism Sector!

Tourism has been a massive employment generator in India for decades. With a plethora of attractive tourist destinations, the potential to generate massive revenues from the sector is huge. However, the sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP has not been that great over the years.

Notably, in 2021, the sector contributed a mere 5.8% to the country’s GDP.

However, the untapped potential remains. According to industry experts, the sector has a potential to contribute 9.9% to the country’s GDP by the end of this decade.

Budget 2023: Highlights for the Tourism Sector

Keeping this in mind, the Union Budget of 2023-24 has earmarked an allocation of Rs 2,400 crores for the tourism sector. This denotes a rise of 18.42% from the previous year’s budget.

The major areas of focus for the Tourism Sector in Budget 2023 will be threefold:

• Infrastructure Development: Rs 1,644 crores
   
• Promotion and Publicity: Rs 421.50 crores
   
• Domestic Promotion and Publicity: Rs 75 crores

Some of the key takeaways for the Tourism Sector from Budget 2023 are:

• 50 tourist destinations will be selected and developed as a package for domestic and international tourism. For these select destinations, important information such as physical connectivity, virtual connectivity, tourist security among others will be provided through an app.
• Initiatives will be taken to develop  tourism at border villages.
• Government will set up a “Unity Mall” where prominent centers will mark tourist spots, monuments and spaces for visitors to boost the sector. A Unity Mall will be a place where the popular products of the state will be sold, resulting in a boost to demand for rural products.
• Promote one district one product scheme that will encourage local products and other handicrafts of states.
• 50 additional airports, heliports, water aerodromes and advanced landing grounds will be revived. This will give a fillip to regional air connectivity.

Budget 2023: Tourism Stocks Increase

With a combination of revival in travel demand post the pandemic along with an overall positive budget for the sector, sentiments have been upbeat around the tourism industry for a while. This has led to gains in share prices of companies in the sector. 

(as on 2nd Feb, 2023)

This is not investment advice. Investments in the securities market are subject to market risk, read all the related documents carefully before investing. Past performance is not indicative of future returns.