In a bid to boost the tourism growth in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, both States recently agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for promotion of tourism in their respective states. Leveraging on this, the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) recently launched a special campaign to attract tourists from Maharashtra to various destinations in the state. Chandana Khan, Special Chief Secretary, Tourism & Culture, Archaeology & Museums, Archives & Youth Services & Sports, NCC, Government of Andhra Pradesh, said, “We want to endorse the untouched destination in the state. Both Maharashtra and AP have a lot of similarities, and Mumbai and Hyderabad are like sister cities. There is so much in common in terms of heritage, culture, cuisine, history, shopping and as a MICE destination.” She is also hopeful that the joint tourism promotion initiatives announced by Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh will also help to further boost tourism exchange.
V Madhusudan, Executive Director, Andhra Pradesh Tourism Department Corporation (APTDC), informed that AP recorded highest number of domestic tourist arrivals. “Domestic tourist arrivals into the state has increased by about 5 per cent to 159 million in 2012, while revenues of APTDC rose to Rs. 225 crores. Our aim is to increase the tourist inflows by around 10 per cent and set Rs. 300 crores turnover for the corporation,” he said. APTDC is also inviting investments in tourism projects through the PPP mode. “APTDC will take up projects worth Rs 1,000 crores through the PPP mode in Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Guntur,” he shared.
Elaborating on this, Khan added that, of these projects, five are coming up at Vizag. The APTDC is also developing Tirupati Convention Centre at a cost of Rs. 70 crores.
Commenting on AP’s off beat destinations, Khan said that there are quite a few unexplored holiday options that one can opt for. “We have a coastline of almost 1,000 kms and no two beaches are alike. Furthermore, we will be promoting locations such as Dindi, Horsley Hills, Bhavani Island, Suryalanka, Vikarabad, Nagarjuna Sagar and Bhadrachalam which are lesser known locations in AP.” AP is now also promoting ecotourism resorts in Laknavaram, Tyda and Konaseema.
Stressing on Film tourism, Khan informed that a Film Tourism Cell within the Tourism Department has been created to make the course of obtaining permissions for shooting easier for filmmakers. “We have made a single window system to make the process of obtaining permissions easier,” Khan concluded.
