Vizag’s World-Class Tourism Dream Lags Behind Ambitions

The infrastructure is woefully inadequate at places of tourist importance. We should also take up a Visit Andhra Pradesh campaign in a big way to promote Visakhapatnam - K Vijaya Mohan, president, Tours and Travel Association of Andhra (TTAA)

Visakhapatnam: Despite being endowed with green-capped hillocks and golden beaches along with Buddhist sites on the beach stretch, the talk of transforming Visakhapatnam into a world-class tourist hub by the powers-that-be has so far remained an empty rhetoric.

Though it is strategically located with good air, rail and road connectivity on the foothills of the ecologically sensitive Eastern Ghats with a glorious past, there is a lot required to attract more domestic as well as international tourists. In fact, the city popularly called as Vizag or City of Destiny, is very often compared with Goa for its valleys and virgin beaches minus casinos. The city has a population of two million plus with an estimated contribution of $43.5 billion-almost a 9 per cent to the country’s GDP. Though a lion’s share of AP tourism revenue of Rs161.35 crore in FY23 has come from Visakhapatnam, there huge potential to increase it manifold. Around two crore tourists visit the region including around 50,000 foreigners. There is massive scope to emerge as a hub for budget, leisure and adventure tourists. There is no adventure tourism worth mentioning despite the oft-repeated talk of introducing cruise service between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada port cities, paragliding, snorkel, scuba diving, parasailing, jet skiing, windsurfing, hot air ballooning, trekking and the likes.

Ironically, there is no social infrastructure in Vizag, an emerging IT hub with restrictions imposed on spending nights on the beach and bars and restaurants forced to shut down early.

Entire stretch of 30 km beach road provides a refreshing experience to the fun-loving people, but on the recreation front, the choice for them is very limited. It also presents a dirty picture as at multiple points, sewage water is being discharged directly into the sea by the civic authorities. Hygiene at the fishing harbour also became a big issue some time ago with the European Union (EU) countries and the United States (US) raising apprehensions over unprofessional handling of fish for exports.

“We need to have an USP and declare sites like Erra Matti Dibbalu (red sand dune formations) near 17th century Dutch township as UNESCO heritage sites. We need brand ambassadors to promote tourism and develop Shakti Peethas and a Buddhist connecting all the Buddhist sites including Amaravati with a link to Dhaulagiri in Odisha to attract regular flow of tourists from Japan, China and South East Asian countries,” K Vijaya Mohan, president of Tours and Travel Association of Andhra (TTAA), told Bizz Buzz.

The infrastructure is woefully inadequate at places of tourist importance. We should also take up a ‘Visit Andhra Pradesh’ campaign in a big way to promote Visakhapatnam as well as other potential areas like Vijayawada, Kakinada, Kurnool and Tirupati as tourist hubs, he added.

There is growing demand to reduce bar licence fees for star hotels. In AP, only 20 hotels have the permission due to an increase in bar licence fees to Rs66 lakh, which is Rs10 lakh in Odisha and Rs20 lakh in Tamil Nadu. Bhubaneswar, though ranked much below Vizag in GDP, has more air traffic and ahead of Vizag in Global Capacity Centers (GCC).The stakeholders are battling for industry status to source loans easily as 14 States have already granted the status. It is said that AP is losing a potential revenue of Rs500 crore per annum due to loss of MICE tourism and destination weddings for its stringent rules on giving bar licences, a hotelier said.

Andhra Pradesh Tourism Forum secretary MV Pavan Kartheek sought the intervention of IT Minister Nara Lokesh and TDP State president Palla Srinivasa Rao to allow late night dining options, encourage business meetings and events to pave the way for more employment opportunities. He also wanted an increase in flight connectivity to new domestic and international destinations and long-term and short-term plans with strict timelines to strengthen the existing ecosystem.