Give the schemes an annual budget outlay of US$ 3-4 billion that should target to develop at least 1000 monuments and sites all across the country for development, upgradation, facelift, protection and lass mile connectivity, among others, every year.
Budget 2023-24 can give India, and the country’s desperate tourism sector, probably it’s biggest gift by dedicating to the nation a scheme solely focused on developing Indian’s tourism infrastructure.
There are thousands of incredible monuments strewn all over the country, in desperate need of protection, facelift, development, smart tourist amenities, quality accommodations, souvenir market, restaurants and food court, quality last mile connectivity and some add on experiential and activity based tourism products like a water park, theme park, adventure park and activities, entertainment center, among others.
India’s ‘Swadesh Darshan’ scheme can be very promising if expanding and converted into country’s flagship tourism infrastructure development scheme that addresses all of the above and more. The scheme in its present avatar only targets a handful of monuments every year under a small budget of probably a few hundred crores, which is just not enough to meet the demands of ramped up for quality and attractive heritage sites and monuments where visitors’ overall destination experiences expectations are met.
Swadesh Darshan (SD), or its recently revised version, was a powerful scheme launched by Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, eight years ago to promote, develop and harness tourism’s potential for the country. It has made decent progress ever since, but that is just not enough.
It’s high time that this wonderful scheme is reincarnated in a brand new avatar. For the scheme to achieve its desired objectives and for the country to achieve her economic and social aspirations, SD scheme must be scaled and expanded. The schemes should have an annual budget outlay of at least US$ 3-4 billion that should target to develop at least 1000 monuments and sites for up gradation, facelift, protection and lass mile connectivity, among others, every year.
India’s tourism riches are humongous. The country is home to tens of thousands of potential tourism attractions and sites of great commercial value. Even at this rate it will at least take a decade to probably cover half of them.
About 30-40 sites needs to be identified for development every year in every state in consultation with local district level official and travel and tourism bodies, state tourism officials and state level trade bodies as well as national level travel, tourism and hospitality bodies.
They should then be developed with a good plan, in mission mode and, most importantly, in a time bound manner. Most of these sites are poorly kept and in shambles and some lost forever to encroachment and loot. We need to have these sites protected, ready, appealing and welcoming to tourists.
The ongoing G20 Presidency is the right time to do. The Government is keen to showcase the country like never before! The Prime Minister has called for his team to ‘convert visiting G20 delegates into India’s Tourism Brand Ambassadors. And doing such a thing at the Union Budget 2023-24 will also address the demands of a jilted trade that has long sought out such a scheme.
Besides, such an initiative will play a big role in realizing the dreams and aspirations envisioned in the run up to 2047, year India achieves 100 year of independence, a 25-year period being hailed as the AmritKaal in which the Government wants the country to be economically developed and prosperous, educated and employed, self-reliant and confident. Backed by a strong SD scheme, India’s travel & tourism sector can hugely contribute in this endeavor.
It will also help develop a long-term and vibrant domestic and inbound tourism landscape that will not only help unleash massive socio-economic dividends for the country, but will also help stem the huge dollar outflow because of strong growth in outbound travel.
Tourism is highly underfunded in the country. Despite the sector’s huge socio-economic potential, States’ annual budget range anything between 200-300 crore to probably 1000 crore and that includes tourism marketing and publicity, infrastructure development and so on. It doesn’t change in the Centre’s budget scheme of things for tourism either. This must change soonest.
