Andhra Pradesh Tourism Department is now working on six marquee projects which offer tremendous growth and potential for investments. This was informed to participants at a panel discussion on Tourism on the opening day of the three-day CII Partnershsip Summit by AP Tourism Secretary Mukesh Kumar Meena.
Addressing delegates, he said that the Special Tourism Zone at Madhurawada and INS Virat aircraft carrier museum in Visakhapatnam, Havelock Bridge in Rajahmundry, Bhavani Island in the middle of Krishna river in Vijayawada, Kakinada Hope Island under Swadesh Darshan scheme in East Godavari district, and Gandikota Fort in Guntur district would be developed with private participation. The major challenge identified is availability of infrastructure.
In terms of domestic tourism, Andhra Pradesh is third in the country after Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. It was mostly religious tourism where people reach places like Tirupati, have darshan and stay for two or three hours before leaving. “It would not contribute to the economy unless and until we increase the length of stay of tourists which can be done by creating the infrastructure and make their stay enjoyable,” said Meena.
HolidayIQ founder Hari Nair said that there were 700 districts in India and tourism remained neglected with only 10 per cent of the potential tapped. “We have to find ways how to realise the remaining 90 per cent. We have three million followers and one way to do this is to contribute content to HolidayIQ,” he added.
