Major boost for tourism, allocation almost doubled in budget

New Delhi, July 10 (IANS) Showing its commitment to strengthen the tourism industry and create jobs in this sector, the NDA government Thursday allocated Rs.1,966 crore to the tourism ministry in its maiden budget, an increase of 87 percent over 2013.

The tourism ministry saw its allocation rise to Rs.1,966.71 crore over the revised estimates of last fiscal, which were Rs.1,050.31 crore.

The Narendra Modi government has emphasised on the development of tourism to create jobs in the country, and this was echoed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while he presented the budget for 2014-15.

"Tourism is one of the larger job creators globally. Many economies world over are supported by tourism," he said.

"India's rich cultural, historical, religious and natural heritage provides a huge potential for the development of tourism and job creation as an industry," he added.

The government has plans to introduce E-visa facilities at nine airports.

This will be done in a phased manner as the necessary infrastructure would be put in place in the next six months.

Apart from this, Jaitley also proposed to create five tourists circuits around specific themes and has allocated Rs.500 crore for this purpose.

He also allocated Rs.100 crore for launching a national mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (PRASAD).

To conserve and preserve heritage characters of some cities, a National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) will also be launched.

"I propose to launch this programme in the cities such as Mathura, Amritsar, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Vellankani and Ajmer," said Jaitley.

"I propose to set aside a sum of Rs.200 crore for this purpose. It will work through a partnership of government, academic institutions and local community combining affordable technologies," he added.