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Water sports, floating cottages to raise revenue from AP tourism
The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to introduce innovative tourism plans by including water sports, floating cottages and restaurants with foreign collaboration for getting 15 per cent share as target in the total State’s Gross State Domestic Production (GSDP).
Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to introduce innovative tourism plans by including water sports, floating cottages and restaurants with foreign collaboration for getting 15 per cent share as target in the total State’s Gross State Domestic Production (GSDP).
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu took this decision in a review meeting on tourism department at Velagapudi here on Tuesday. As part of it, the CM directed the officials to organise water sports in Vijayawada, Vizag and Rajamahendravaram soon.
Besides this, the government accepted the proposal to develop Bhavani Island as a major tourist destination. The government is also proposing to develop a fountain and multimedia show on the banks of Bhavani Island to act as catalyst to increase tourist footfall.
The Tourism Corporation envisages to set-up musical fountain with provision for water screen of suitable size for the purpose of displaying laser and high lighting projections on water screen. All features, including water works, music and laser show will be seamlessly synchronised so as to generate mesmerising shows for a minimum of 250 spectators.
The proposed fountain would be 75 metres wide and 25 metres tall with world class features on the lines of Bellagio fountain at Las Vegas and Burj Khalifa Lake Fountain in Dubai. The laser show content would be highlighting themes relevant to Andhra Pradesh culture.
Tourism Corporation is planning to have the project ready by Dasara. The project has been approved by the meeting chaired by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and the Minister for Tourism Department Bhuma Akhila Priya gave a presentation on tourism plans and projects. The Andhra Pradesh Tou-rism department is monitoring as many as 113 projects in the State.
The Tourism Department officials informed the Chief Minister that 75 projects worth Rs 3,341 crore have been grounded and another 38 projects worth Rs 10,958 crore are in pipeline. Andhra Pradesh’s domestic footfall has increased by over 30 per cent in comparison to last year.
The domestic arrival in 2014 was 98 million and it increased to 158.5 million till March 2017. The international arrival has picked up over the years and is now at 3.24 lakh. The GSDP contribution was at 6.8% in 2014 and the present contribution is 7.03%.
The room carrying capacity has increased from 6,742 in 2014 to 8,835 in March 2017. The department has aimed at attracting private sector investments worth Rs 2,200 crore for infrastructure development and has prepared a plan to add as many as 1,500 rooms at 5- star hotels for the year 2017-18. The tourism department has signed a MoU with a Spanish consultant to design and develop an Oceanarium at Visakhapatnam.
