Where history meets culture: Heritage sites become 'vibrant destinations'

In a bid to give impetus to cultural tourism, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the development of 15 archaeological sites including Lothal, Dholavira, Rakhigarhi, Adichanallur, Sarnath, Hastinapur, and Leh Palace into "vibrant, experiential cultural destinations"."Excavated landscapes will be opened to the public through curated walkways. Immersive storytelling skills and technologies will be introduced to help conservation labs, interpretation centres, and guides," she said. Aiming to bolster tourism, the Budget proposed setting up of a 'National Destination Digital Knowledge Grid' to digitally document all places of significance-cultural, spiritual and heritage. "This initiative will create a new ecosystem of jobs for local researchers, historians, content creators and technology partners," the FM said.A scheme for development of Buddhist circuits in the northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura is also proposed. The scheme will cover preservation of temples and monasteries, pilgrimage interpretation centers, connectivity and pilgrim amenities.As part of the focus on the "Purvodaya states" the FM proposed the creation of five tourism destinations in the five Purvodaya states that include Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh.FM proposed setting up a National Institute of Hospitality by upgrading the existing National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology that will "function as a bridge between academia, industry and govt".Recognising the "potential and opportunity to offer world-class trekking and hiking experience", govt proposes to develop ecologically sustainable mountain trails in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and J&K; Araku Valley in the Eastern Ghats and Podhigai Malai in the Western Ghats; turtle trails along key nesting sites in the coastal areas of Odisha, Karnataka and Kerala; and bird watching trails along the Pulikat lake in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. A pilot scheme has been proposed for upskilling 10,000 guides in 20 iconic tourist sites in collaboration with an Indian Institute of Management.Reacting to the Budget, ITC Hotels MD Anil Chadha, noted that "the Budget's renewed focus on tourism is a strong vote of confidence in an industry that creates livelihoods at scale".