The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India is yet to select destinations for the proposed 50 top tourism destinations development scheme announced by the Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman in the 2025-26 budget. The Finance Minister had proposed to develop top 50 destinations across the country in partnership with states through Challenge Mode in the last Union Budget.
While the states have to provide land for the destination development, the Finance Minister had proposed incentives like financing under the harmonised infrastructure list for hotels and other tourist infrastructure projects in these select destinations.
In a written reply to questions related to the progress of the flagship schemes of the Tourism Ministry in the Lok Sabha, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister for Culture and Tourism, said that the Ministry is yet to select destinations under the scheme.
“As of now, no destination is selected under this initiative,” the Minister stated. However, he stated the Tourism Ministry has formulated draft frameworks for destination development and destination management and has undertaken consultations with tourism stakeholders including state governments and UT administrations.
In a related question, the Minister furnished details of various projects approved and for which funds have been sanctioned under the Swadesh Darshan 2.0 and Challenge Based Destination Development (CBDD) by the Tourism Ministry in states and UTs.
Under the Swadesh Darshan 2.0, the government has sanctioned 53 projects worth INR 2,208 cr in 27 states so far and under the CBDD, 36 projects worth INR 648.11 cr have been sanctioned.
Ironically, the utilisation by implementing agencies – the states and UTs – is below 10 per cent of the total scheme budget, the figures furnished by the Minister in the Parliament show.
In the SD 2.0 programme, the total utilisation of funds is INR 187.32 cr against the total sanctioned amount of INR 2,208.27 cr. As far as CBDD scheme was concerned, the total utilisation across 36 projects was INR 64.81 cr against the sanctioned INR 648.11cr.
