MAM
From temples to tourist hubs: Interim budget ushers in travel renaissance
Mumbai: Diving into the interim budget, the tourism sector emerges as a key player, echoing the government’s strategic focus on boosting growth and employment. Industry experts share insights on the budget’s impact, ranging from temple tourism subsidies to transformative infrastructure plans.
The budget unfolds as a roadmap, signaling substantial developments in air and rail connectivity, iconic tourist spots, and initiatives to tackle over-tourism, promising a dynamic landscape for the tourism industry’s resurgence.
The following are the quotes:
Temple Connect and International Temple Convention and Expo ITCX founder Giresh Kulkarni
Reflecting on the activities of the International Temples Convention and Expo over the past year, which successfully brought together thousands of temples, fostering improvements in areas such as enhancement, beautification, surveillance, coordination, and an overall enhancement of pilgrim and devotee management systems, we present a noteworthy recommendation to the esteemed office of the Finance Minister. The comprehensive engagement with the temple ecosystem, encompassing industries related to temple devotion, spirituality, and cultural aspects, underscores the necessity for increased subsidy benefits.
As we approach the upcoming times, it becomes imperative to uplift existing temple infrastructure through diverse avenues. Notably, the influx of international travelers to India, seeking pilgrimage or visiting temple premises, significantly contributes to the local temple economy through substantial financial spending. Therefore, the current budget prominently emphasizes support for temple tourism, general tourism, and spiritual tourism. In this interim budget, we also advocate for the backing of both corridor-centric and non-corridor-centric temples through the Smart Temples Mission, initiated by Temple Connect.
Looking ahead, the International Temples Convention and Expo anticipate the participation of over 5000 temples under one roof, marking a significant step towards the Smart Temples Mission. This concerted effort is poised to have a profound impact on local economies, fostering entrepreneurship and benefiting sectors related to devotion and spirituality. Simultaneously, this initiative aims to transition commercially active taxpayers from the current non-tax-paying category to encouraging their participation in the tax-paying category, contributing to the economic growth of the temple ecosystem.
Thomas Cook (India) Ltd executive chairman Madhavan Menon
The interim budget presented by the finance minister has focussed on tourism with a multipronged approach that we believe will create a multiplier effect across aviation, tourism and allied sectors, boosting growth and employment generation.
We welcome the announcements on airport development and expansion: having already doubled to 149 airports in the last decade, the government’s plans to boost air connectivity by the addition of 517 new routes across Tier 2-3 cities, carrying 1.3 crore passengers via the UDAN scheme, will play a critical role with vibrant hub and spoke air corridors to boost accessibility-affordability for regional India.
Implementation of major rail connectivity corridors via the PM Gati Shakti program together with port and metro/rapid transport expansion will serve to create valuable multi-modal connectivity for tourism.
We welcome the special focus on domestic tourism which represents a vibrant growth driver via the government’s plan of long-term interest-free loans to states; development of iconic tourism centres by states along with marketing on global standards. What was noteworthy is the reference to Spiritual Tourism and projects for port connectivity, tourism infrastructure and amenities on islands including Lakshadweep – aimed at development of India’s hidden gems and employment opportunities.
Further, the strong capex outlay of Rs 11.11 lakh cr, a significant four per cent of our GDP, will serve as a catalyst to the Country’s growth potential and job creation.
SOTC Travel Ltd MD Vishal Suri
The interim budget presented by the finance minister has maintained status-quo on direct and indirect taxes thus keeping its impact neutral. The government has set focus on the overall travel and tourism sector via infrastructure development, green energy, sustainability and looked at diverse initiatives for domestic tourism via a strategic approach for each segment – aviation, ports (waterways) and rail to strengthen regional connectivity to tier 2 and 3 cities.
We welcome the development on the rapid expansion of air connectivity with the addition of 517 new routes across regional India’s tier 2 and 3 cities via the UDAN scheme – this will play a key role in strengthening accessibility.
The special focus on strengthening domestic tourism via implementation of rail connectivity corridors under the PM Gati Shakti initiative and upgrading 40,000 regular train boogies into high-speed Vande Bharat trains will definitely strengthen surface transportation.
The government’s plan on focus on spiritual tourism, development of iconic tourist spots and island destinations of India including Lakshadweep (projects for port connectivity, tourism infrastructure, and amenities) will generate employment thus boosting India’s economy. What is noteworthy, is the government’s mindful move to form a panel to tackle challenges of higher population/over-tourism, especially in destinations with sensitive ecosystems.
E-Factor Experiences Ltd MD Samit Garg
The focus on tourism, including the development of iconic tourist centres and the promotion of the Blue Economy, can lead to more opportunities for cultural events, festivals, and experiential tourism initiatives. This could open new avenues for event managers to explore and innovate in thematic and destination events.
AD Agencies
Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
