Growth of tourism in India rides on better infrastructure & connectivity
Boost to regional air connectivity through UDAN scheme and upgradation of smaller airports & helipads will bring remote and hinterland destinations into the mainstream.
India’s tourism sector has bucked global economic headwinds to remain on a steady growth trajectory for over a decade now. After the historic jump to 40thposition in WEF Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, India crossed the 10 million mark in FTAs for the first time in 2017. Union Budget 2018 is a testament of the government’s confidence in the sector, underlined by the focus on strengthening infrastructure, improving connectivity and rural development.
The decision to develop 10 prominent sites as ‘Iconic Destinations’ is a laudable effort which will serve as pilot projects and a replicable model for other major tourism destinations across the country. Deeper integration of Swachh Bharat Mission towards developing civic and modern tourism amenities around 110 Adarsh Monuments of ASI will augment the popularity of heritage tourism in our country.
Connectivity has always been an Achilles’ heel restricting existing tourist inflow only to a handful of ‘honeypot’ destinations. This has led to imbalanced concentration of revenue as well as exerts skewed pressure on local infrastructure. Through a multi-modal focus on Air, Road and Rail, we can expect significant improvements in last mile connectivity. The NABH Nirman initiative announced in the Budget is a welcome step towards expanding airport capacity more than five times to handle a billion trips a year.
Source : https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/budget/tourism-in-india-rides-on-infrastructure-growth-2538483.html
