Tourism ministry to soon release criteria for developing 50 destinations

Focus on infrastructure development, capacity creation and promotion: Tourism secretary

Sustainability and security will be among the criteria for choosing 50 destinations to be developed as part of a central government scheme for encouraging domestic tourism.

"Selection criteria for choosing the destinations is being prepared. We are working out the details with other ministries and will be ready soon," said Arvind Singh, the union tourism secretary, on Thursday.

Destination management organisations set up by state tourism departments can participate in the scheme by submitting details about projects and funding. The central government will fully fund the scheme.

"The focus will be on infrastructure development, capacity creation and promotion. There will be a convergence and saturation of central schemes for development at the selected destinations," Singh said.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget speech on Wednesday provided Rs 2,400 crore for the tourism ministry in 2023-24--equal to the 2022-23 allocation. Funding details for developing 50 destinations have not been finalised yet and the Budget made no specific allocation.

A destination management organisation is in place at the Statue of Unity in Gujarat. Kerala, has such destination management organizations, too. Other states will be encouraged to set up similar organisations.

"Every destination would be developed as a complete package. The focus on development of tourism would be on domestic as well as foreign tourists,” Sitharaman said in her speech. Amenities will be developed in border villages too.

States would be encouraged to set up Unity Malls for the sale of GI (geographical indication) and other handicraft products, she said.

Domestic tourism is surpassing pre-pandemic level. Tourist arrivals in Jammu & Kashmir are at an all-time high. Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh has seen a ten-fold growth in domestic tourism compared to the time before Covid-19. Destinations within 4-5 hour driving distance from metros / large cities are seeing high footfalls.

"On inbound front too we have seen a rebound. We expect to receive 12.75 million tourists in FY 2023 which is 75 per cent of pre-Covid figures and achieve full recovery by March 2024," Singh said.