AP tourism minister launches new forum to attract visitors

Visakhapatnam: The Andhra Pradesh Tourism Forum (APTF), an organisation of tourism stakeholders aimed at promoting Brand Andhra Pradesh and attracting more visitors to the State, was launched by Tourism Minister Kandula Durgesh on Wednesday evening.As per GO, the forum was formed with the Tourism Minister, Secretary, Tourism, CEO, AP Tourism Authority (APTA), MD, APTDC as ex-officio members and several stakeholders as members.

Tours and Travel Association of Andhra (TTAA) president K Vijay Mohan has been nominated as the president, Prasanth Singu vice president, Pavan Kartik secretary, Jaydeep Biswas joint secretary, Lakshmi Sridhar treasurer, Mantosh Kumar, Tarun Kakani, Srinivas Chitturi, Padhi Srinivas Kumar, G Shiva Kumar, Venkat Anand Varada as members. All the office-bearers took charge in presence of the Minister.

After listening to the suggestions at the meeting, the Minister said the government is keen on attracting investments by improving the infrastructure and facilities on PPP more. He said a new tourism policy will come into effect from April, 2025.

Earlier, forum president Vijay Mohan requested the Minister to declare tourism as an industry and declare 2025 as the year of visit to promote the arrival of more tourists to Andhra Pradesh. He also wanted review of existing bar licence policy and open more shacks on the beach and other tourist spots.