AP’s New Tourism Policy To Focus On Infra Push

Visakhapatnam will be transformed into a cruise hub with the opening of an international cruise terminal at the Visakhapatnam Port. Further, the State govt will soon introduce a cruise service between Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam - Kandula Durgesh, Tourism Minister

Visakhapatnam: Minister for Tourism, Culture and Cinematography Kandula Durgesh on Friday said the New Industrial Policy will be unveiled soon with focus on developing tourism infrastructure and various circuits to create a tourism-friendly rendezvous across Andhra Pradesh by laying emphasis on involving various new projects under PPP route.

He was addressing investors, hoteliers, travel operators and other stakeholders at the Tourism and Travel Summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here where JLL released a white paper titled ‘Unlocking Visakhapatnam’s Tourism Sector.”

The Minister said Chief Minister N Chandrabab Naidu last month announced industry status to tourism after which the official machinery is in the process of finalising the guidelines. He said the new policy’s aims to increase revenue from tourism in a big way and create a lot of employment opportunities to local youth.

Earlier, Visakhapatnam zone chairman of CII Grandhi Rajesh pointed out that though Visakhapatnam ranked as ninth largest city in contribution to GDP of the nation, it does not have metro rail, which has coverage in 17 cities, some smaller than the size of Visakhapatnam.

Blaming the erstwhile YSRCP Government for its failure to develop the tourism sector in the past five years, the Minister said nothing has been done to retain travellers who visit Andhra Pradesh on some work for a few days to visit places of interest. While making it very clear that creating tourism infrastructure is a time-consuming process, he expressed happiness that the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan and the Central Government are on the same page to explore the tourism potential of the State. He disclosed that the Centre has agreed to grant Rs1,000 crore under Swadesh Darshan and PRASAD (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive) Scheme. Under various themes, tourism policy is being framed to develop religious, wellness, Buddhism, golf, medical, adventure, beach and cruise tourism. River cruise is one of the focus areas.

Durgesh said Visakhapatnam will be transformed into a cruise hub with the opening of an international cruise terminal at the Visakhapatnam Port. He further said they will soon introduce a cruise service between Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam. Saying only Rushikonda beach in Andhra Pradesh has received recognition as blue flag beach certification by the Foundation for Environment Education in Denmark (FEE), he said the State Government is trying to get this recognition for other beautiful beaches in East Godavari and other districts.

Endowed with a 974-km long coastline, Andhra Pradesh offers plethora of opportunities for opening hotels and airports, he said. They will not only create the demand for more footfall, but also ensure that the tourists will prefer to visit repeatedly due to focus on sustainable tourism.

Releasing the white paper, Jerry Kingsley, Head, Strategic Consulting, Value and Risk Advisory India & City Lead Capital Markets, JLL, said that Visakhapatnam has huge potential to grow manifold with the work in progress on development of GMR International Airport at Bhogapuram, Inorbit Mall and other malls and Adani Data Centre. It has good growth potential in tourism due to natural surroundings and robust industrial ecosystem.

Among others, Vizag MP M Sribharat, Suresh Productions CEO Daggubati Suresh Babu, CII AP chairman V Muralikrishna, Tourism Panel convenor Raja Indukur, Holiday World Managing Director K Vijay Mohan and others spoke.