Union Budget 2026: Experiences, medical tourism, job creation part of big tourism push

Job creation

Travel and tourism contributed 5.22 per cent to GDP, close to pre-pandemic levels, while supporting an estimated 8.46 crore direct and indirect jobs (about 13.3 per cent of total employment) in FY24, according to Ministry of Tourism estimates.

“The tourism sector has the potential to play a large role in employment generation, forex earnings and expanding the local economy,” the Finance Minister said on Sunday.

She announced a new National Institute of Hospitality to bridge academia, industry and the government. The existing National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology will be upgraded to this effect.

The Budget has also proposed a pilot scheme to upskill 10,000 guides in 20 iconic tourist sites. This would be achieved through a standardised, high-quality 12-week training course in hybrid mode, in collaboration with an Indian Institute of Management.

The Finance Minister also announced a National Destination Digital Knowledge Grid to digitally document all places of significance — cultural, spiritual and heritage. The goal is to create a new ecosystem of jobs for local researchers, historians, content creators and technology partners.

Medical tourism

Schemes to harness India’s appeal as an all-weather destination for medical tourism were announced. The Economic Survey noted that India was preferred for its cost-effectiveness, skilled medical professionals and established healthcare infrastructure.

According to the Survey, medical tourist arrivals grew from about 1.12 lakh in 2009 to over 6 lakh during 2022-2024, growing at nearly 12.4%, and well above the overall inbound tourism growth at 4.5% for the same period. Foreign medical tourist arrivals grew from about 2.2% in 2009 to around 6.5% in 2024. This market is most lucrative, valued at an estimated $8.7 billion in 2025, and projected to grow to 16.2 billion by 2030.

The Budget proposes a scheme in partnership with the private sector to establish five Regional Medical Hubs. These hubs will serve as integrated healthcare complexes that combine medical, educational and research facilities. The hubs will also have AYUSH centres, medical value tourism facilitation centres and infrastructure for diagnostics, post-care and rehabilitation. These hubs will provide diverse job opportunities for health professionals, including doctors and Allied Health Professionals.

Experience-based tourism

The Survey had identified opportunities to tap into niche tourism segments such as long-distance hiking trails and blue tourism focused on leveraging India’s vast coastline, keeping sustainability in mind. The Budget followed up on this, and announced ecologically sustainable

• Mountain trails in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir; Araku Valley in the Eastern Ghats and Podhigai Malai in the Western Ghats.
• Turtle Trails along key nesting sites in the coastal areas 14 of Odisha, Karnataka and Kerala;
• Bird watching trails along the Pulikat lake in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

The first-ever Global Big Cat Summit will be held in India this year, with heads of governments and ministers from around 95 range countries in attendance.

In the realm of heritage and culture tourism, the Finance Minister announced 15 archaeological sites which will be developed into experiential culture destinations. This would include opening excavated landscapes to the public through curated walkways with immersive storytelling. A similar scheme is proposed in the North East to exhibit the region’s Theravada and Mahayana/Vajrayana Buddhist traditions. This scheme, spanning six states, will cover preservation of temples and monasteries, pilgrimage interpretation centres, connectivity and pilgrim amenities.

Infrastructure capacity

The Economic Survey noted the need for building a tourist-centric approach that emphasises ease of travel, accommodation, local mobility, cleanliness, safety, and service quality, among other things. It also contrasted state-level efforts, such as Gujarat’s event-based tourism initiatives, Kerala’s state-led destination management, and Sikkim’s sustainable tourism model.

The Budget announced an integrated East Coast Industrial Corridor, which will create five tourism destinations in the five Purvodaya states (Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh). This infrastructural push will create a well-connected node at Durgapur and allocate 4,000 e-buses.