AP: Cultural Clusters In Mind

Attempting to balance government support and private sector participation, this tourism board aspires to be one among the leading Indian states. Dr J Geetha Reddy, minister for tourism, Government of Andhra Pradesh, reveals the modules that it has developed to achieve this rare combination

State development, triggered by political interference, is rare in India. But Andhra Pradesh seems to be the ‘chosen one’. The government accelerated the process and laid down policies to enable global investments. It identified tourism as a growth engine and has been given an industry status to generate employment and income in the rural sector. The state government announced its Tourism Policy first in 1994, which was later modified in 1998. Private investments has since then been encouraged in the tourism segment.

The government has taken steps for promoting tourism by providing accommodation, catering, transport and recreational facilities at various tourist places. According to Reddy, greater emphasis has been given to rural tourism, pilgrim and leisure tourism, adventure and eco-tourism, and even cruise and charter tourism. Reddy says, “We have received good response from the private sector for investment in tourism-related activities like beach resorts, water sports, theme parks, amusement parks, trekking, golf, and convention centers.”

With continuous efforts from the department of tourism, domestic tourist arrivals have increased significantly, from 74.1 million in 2003 to 84.9 million in 2004. Similarly, international tourist arrivals also increased from 4.80 lakh in 2003 to 5.01 lakh in 2004.

Current strategies of the state board include positioning tourism as a major growth engine in the state as well as project it as a favoured international and domestic destination. “We are identifying tourism as one of the major growth engines to generate employment. We are acknowledging the primacy of the role of private sector with government acting as a facilitator. We will give maximum priority to rural, temple, heritage and family-oriented tourism while focusing on preserving the eco-diversity of the place. The board wants to promote eco-tourism and create the appropriate infrastructure to enable this. We are also supporting and encouraging artisans to produce and promote indigenous handicraft from Andhra Pradesh,” says Reddy.

The five favourite destinations in Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Warangal and Vijayawada – have a concrete focus, which ensures that each of them have a distinctive theme. These will be the primary focus areas before other destinations are considered. “The government is ensuring sufficient domestic and international air connectivity to Hyderabad and Vishakhapatnam, and domestic air connectivity within Tirupati. The aim is to aggressively target and incentivise global hotel chains, that can act as anchor tenants especially in Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati,’ Reddy says.

Like all other states, Andhra Pradesh is also trying to cash in on medical tourism that currently sees prospects in India. Reddy explains, “We are placing a lot of emphasis on medical tourism. In fact, right now we are in the throes of working out a plan with major hospitals and will meet with corporate managing directors to see how the government and corporate hospitals can work out a package. This is because a lot of people from the Middle East are interested in what we can offer - good treatment for low cost.”

Future plans of the state government include inviting private entrepreneurs to buy vacant government lands. Under the Private-Public Partnership mode, government land is leased for a period not exceeding 33 years at five per cent of the market value payable as lease rent and five per cent annual escalation.

The local level development programmes undertaken to indicate tourism in the state is mainly on rural development and welfare. “We have identified many ways of achieving this objective and giving undivided attention to rural tourism,” says Reddy. Under the rural tourism project, the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) has recognised the backwater potential at Konaseema and has commissioned houseboats at Dandy in Chinchinada.

However, one of the destinations that has not received due attention is Puttaparti, the abode of Satya Sai Baba. “Devotees from 172 countries arrive in hordes to this spiritual place. In fact, Karnataka has done quite a lot in this area to capitalise on this. The state government intends to develop infrastructure and facilities in this area from a tourism perspective,” Reddy reveals. To develop rural tourism in Puttaparthi, the board is aiding construction of amenities with an investment of Rs 1.20 crore. This project includes restaurants, accommodation units and handicraft centre. The project will be commissioned by the end of 2005.

Apart from this, a project in the volume of Rs 10 crore is underway at Nagarjuna Sagar. “Here we are putting up what is known as ‘Boudha Vanam’ where the replicas of Buddhist stupas from all over the world will be installed. There are plans to set up a museum, an information center, restaurants, library and a huge outdoor area. In Amarvati, a 2.5 crore project is almost on the verge of completion,” says Reddy.

The state tourism ministry will soon launch a costal luxury sea cruise to Colombo. The Indian government has already given the initial approval for the project and few formalities are to be ironed out. “We hope to hire a luxury yacht, which could accommodate 540 passengers with over 225 luxury cabin and it would travel to Colombo via Vizag port,” says Reddy. The government will also introduce a Tourism Development Authority to control and manage tourism product development and sustainable development of tourism while ensuring international standards to be practiced by the industry.

Reddy says, “While we plan to focus specially on rural tourism, heritage tourism, district tourism, pilgrim tourism and health tourism, the objective is not merely to generate revenues from them but also to create employment and most importantly to project the richness and cultural diversity of the state. The state has 104 Buddhist sites that would attract a large number of tourists from South East and Far East Asia.” According to her, development of cultural clusters in every district is their main agenda.