Kerala Budget Increases Allocation for Tourism Sector to Rs 413.52 cr

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Giving a major fillip to tourism, the State Budget for 2026-27, presented by Finance Minister K N Balagopal in the State Assembly today, increased the allocation for the vital sector to Rs 413.52 crore from Rs 385.02 crore earmarked in the last financial year.

The budget gave priority to promoting heritage and cultural tourism, tourism infrastructure development, Destination Challenge projects, implementation of Design Policy, development of tourism hubs and scaling up marketing initiatives and Responsible Tourism.

As part of developing tourism circuits, the government will set up ‘Blue Green Integrated Tourism Circuit’, the first phase of which will come up at Dharmadam in Kannur at a cost of Rs 2 crore. The project includes Dharmadam river cruise circuit, Dharmadam Island Bio Reserve, walking museum and mangrove information centre. The works on Kollam Bio-diversity Circuit and Malabar Literary Circuit are currently underway.

The fund for marketing activities has been increased to Rs 85 crore. Besides, Rs 20 crore has been earmarked for supporting the activities of Responsible Tourism (RT) Mission Society.

Tourism Minister P A Mohamed Riyas said the budget allocation for tourism sector will impart greater momentum to the ongoing and upcoming projects.

A sum of Rs 159 crore has been allocated for the renovation, development of basic infrastructure facilities and other amenities in tourism centres. The Beypore ‘Uru’ Tourism and Kochi Heritage will get Rs 5 crore each.

Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) has been allocated Rs 14.10 crore for the implementation of various projects.

An amount of Rs 13.50 crore has been earmarked for taking forward subsidies and incentives for promoting investments, entrepreneurship, tourism products and infrastructure facilities.

The budget also allocated Rs 5 crore for the heliport construction at Kumarakom while Rs one crore as initial provision for exploring the scope of PPP model development of Peechi tourism project.

Muziris Heritage and Spices Routes, and River Cruise Heritage will get Rs 14 crore. An amount of Rs one crore has been set apart for the study of Oceanarium in Cochin-Vypin area.

For the conduct of Champions Boat League (CBL), the IPL-styled tournament, across Kerala, Rs 10.46 crore has been earmarked.

In a major initiative for making the traditional festivals and cultural programmes more attractive, an amount of Rs 29 crore has been allocated under a scheme called, “Conservation and Promotion of Heritage, Environment And Culture.”

Allocation for other major projects in the tourism sector are Kollam Marina project (Rs 6 crore), development of bicycle track circumspect Ashtamudi Lake (Rs 10 crore), Munroe Island tourism development (Rs 5 crore), Kollam Oceanarium (10 crore), Marian Pilgrimage centre Kottayam Cheriya Palli (Rs 2 crore), Kalyanathandu and Anchuruli tourism development (Rs 20 crore) and soft adventure tourism activities at Mangattupara (Rs 1 crore).