Industry Status A Major Boost To AP Tourism

It’ll certainly help in reducing the cost of doing business, power costs, municipal taxes and facilitate obtaining approvals on a fast-track - O Naresh Kumar, chairman, TTAA

Visakhapatnam: Tourism sector is set to get a shot in the arm in Andhra Pradesh with the State Cabinet approving the long-awaited demand for industry status. The cabinet meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at Velagapudi near Vijayawada also gave its stamp of approval to the New Tourism Policy, while clearing investment proposals worth Rs85,000 crore, which were placed before the State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) last week.

The decision to join the select club of States in granting industry status to the travel sector will bring more investments into the sector in AP, giving a fillip to establishment of new hotels, resorts and other amenities as the entrepreneurs find the going easy to procure loans. Brownfield expansion will also be easy as the entrepreneurs will be eligible to get loans against their properties and land at a lower interest. Earlier, they were being forced to source funds at a higher interest as many of them were availing from private institutes due to the difficult process involved in securing loans from banks.

Welcoming the Cabinet approval to grant industry status, MV Pavan Kartheek, Secretary, AO Tourism Forum, told Bizz Buzz on Thursday: “the decision will revolutionise the tourism sector, creating jobs, stimulating economic growth, and showcasing our State’s rich cultural heritage.”

On behalf of the AP Tourism Forum, he said they were thankful to the Chief Minister and the Tourism Minister for the bold decision.

“We profoundly thank the AP Government for its unwavering support on promotion of tourism,” said Kartheek, Chairman, Hotels & Tourism Sub-Committee, AP Chamber of Commerce and Industry Federation.

AP received revenue of around Rs161 crore from tourism in FY23 recording a significant increase from Rs145.35 crore in FY22 and Rs76.09 crore in FY21 as the pandemic hit the tourism sector very hard.

The State ranks third in terms of number of tourist footfall in India and it is said that the number of domestic and international tourists can be increased manifold if the existing infrastructure is strengthened and private players are given a slew of incentives to develop facilities to attract various segments of travellers.

The State has huge potential to develop ecotourism, religious tourism, adventure tourism , wellness tourism, golf tourism, leisure tourism and MICE tourism. According to a tourism summit organised recently by CII and JSS, the need to promote tourism aggressively in Andhra Pradesh in general and Visakhapatnam in particularly was underscored.

The theme paper for the summit revealed that the travel market is bound to increase to $131 billion in 2030 from an $78 billion in 2023. India saw 305.4 per cent growth in foreign tourist arrivals compared to the previous year.

There is euphoria in the travel industry after the State Cabinet’s decision. Tour & Travel Association of Andhra (TTAA) chairman O. Naresh Kumar said the decision is most welcome. “It will certainly help in reducing the cost of doing business, power costs, municipal taxes and facilitate obtaining approvals on a fast-track,” he stated. Director (Operations) at The Park-Vizag Jaydeep Biswas said “the industry status is the best thing to happen to the hospitality sector. It will give a much needed boost for tourism. It will help in getting new brands and thus, create more footfalls and create more jobs.”