With Tourism Back, is NICH Rebounding Financially?

Sapna Budhrani

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the National Institute of Culture and History took a severe financial hit when tourism came to a screeching halt.  As a statutory body, NICH is partly funded by the government.  It is also funded in large from revenue collected from the many archaeological sites it manages across the country. With the resumption of overnight and cruise tourism, is the organization generating much-needed funds now that the tourism industry has jumpstarted?

Sapna Budhrani, President, NICH

“I think we need to be a bit realistic of what’s happening in our country, it’s not necessarily only tourism.  Economically, the government has a huge task in trying to see how to bring us back and we, as a statutory body, are partners with the government so we’ll do everything that’s possible to bring us back into the good standing.  We have not increased our liabilities; we are in good standing with all of our financial institutions.  Where we are today as NICH is, we are hopeful that things would get better and we’re hopeful that tourism could increase and we have more visitation at our sites.  At the same time, we’re looking at creative ideas and innovative ideas of finding other means of income.  It’s not necessarily only with the sites that we are looking at but other areas.  The board of directors is very active and they would be providing some new ideas and hopefully we’re back on track.”