With the Union Budget 2026 set to be presented in the first week of February, expectations are building across the hospitality, tourism, and food services sectors. Industry leaders are looking to the upcoming budget for measures that can strengthen travel infrastructure, support sustainable tourism, ease operational pressures, and recognise the sector’s role in employment generation.

Sharing her views, Shruti Shibulal, Executive Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at Tamara Leisure Experiences, highlighted the opportunity for the budget to further strengthen India’s travel and tourism ecosystem. She said, "The approaching Union Budget has a strong opportunity to further strengthen India's travel and tourism ecosystem through focused interventions that promote ease of access, visibility and local employment."

She emphasised the need to identify and promote new destinations, particularly across North India and the North East, to attract new traveller segments and ensure balanced regional growth. Improved connectivity under the UDAN scheme, she noted, could also help ease pressure on overcrowded destinations by redirecting tourist flows. On sustainable tourism, she pointed to India’s potential in nature-centric travel and suggested that a calibrated relaxation of wildlife sanctuary guidelines, while maintaining strict conservation norms, could support future-ready tourism development.

Shruti Shibulal also underscored the importance of simplifying visas for health and wellness tourism, extending the PRASAD scheme to more destinations with timely execution, and giving a focused policy push to cruise tourism along India’s coastline to enhance global competitiveness. Stressing safety and ease of travel, she called for a dedicated focus on tourism police under police modernisation schemes. She further added that support for rural cooperatives, along with sustained investment in skill development and local employment generation, especially in rural and emerging destinations, would help create participative tourism models that benefit local communities.

From the food services perspective, Pranav Rungta, Cofounder and Director of Nksha Restaurant and Vice President of NRAI Mumbai, spoke about the financial pressures facing the sector. He said, "The hospitality and food services sector is at a critical inflection point. Revisiting the GST notification on commercial leases under the Reverse Charge Mechanism would provide much-needed relief to operators already managing tight cash flows."

He also highlighted the need to reintroduce support mechanisms such as SEIS to strengthen restaurants that contribute to foreign exchange earnings. According to him, the sector requires targeted subsidies, easier access to debt for SMEs, and formal industry status, given its significant contribution to employment. He further added that a dedicated food services ministry, along with structured employee welfare initiatives, would play a key role in building a more resilient and sustainable hospitality ecosystem.

As the industry awaits the Union Budget 2026, these expectations reflect a broader call for policy clarity, financial relief, and long-term structural support to help hospitality and allied sectors continue their growth momentum.