Budget 2024 | State governments can get central funds to boost tourism

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Centre would provide long-term interest free loans to state governments to develop iconic tourist spots.

These are some of the other tourism-related highlights from the interim budget speech:

40,000 normal rail bogies will be converted to Vande Bharat standards for the convenience of passengers.

Under the ambitious UDAN  scheme, she said that 517 new routes were introduced. The Udan scheme (launched in 2018) aims to prod airlines to connect smaller cities. In such flights, half the seats have a cap on airfares that is set by the civil aviation ministry and the rest of seats are allowed to be sold at market rates.

To address the fervour for domestic tourism, projects for port connectivity, tourism infrastructure, and amenities will be taken up on our islands, including Lakshadweep. This will help in generating employment as well.