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Andhra Pradesh Rewriting Its Agenda
P R Subas Chandran -Hyderabad
Andhra Pradesh is in great hurry. The bureaucrats are drawing
an ambitious plan to sell the state in the market of the hospitality industry.
Knowing pretty well that if the state, which is already in a tourism slumber,
fails to wake up from somnolent, they have to pack up and go. There is an SOS
call from many quarters to provide enough space for the hospitality industry
as many as national and international events are slated to happen next year,
viz. the ASIAD 2006, Kalachakra, a Buddhist initiation movement in 2006, Asian
Development Bank, board of Governors meeting 2006, etc. With these mega events
lined up the predicament with the government is whether the state can cater
to the need of the demand.
According to Nagi Reddy, secretary tourism, Government
of Andhra Pradesh , “The McKinsey analysis says that tourism is the
world’s largest industry contributing to the world economy to the tune
of US $4544 Billion followed by chemicals which is US $1500 Billion.
Underscoring the importance to exploit tourism resources, the department is
working over time to attract national and international visitors to make Andhra
a tourist Hub. But there are hurdles to cross. As of now we have Hyderabad with
just eight five star, five four star, nine three star hotels and it cannot cater
to the growing demands”.
The state is now gearing up to put in place, the required infrastructure requirement.
“The focus is now anchored at qualitative and quantitative accommodations
to the tourists. We need to promote 20 Five Star hotels, 50 Budget hotels, 20
Resorts, 100 urban entertainment Centres and 300 Motels with an outlay of Rs
6,300 crore and we are confident of accelerating the tourism input to a whooping
Rs 1000 crore per annum further.”
The state has entered an agreement with IHHR Hospitality Pvt Limited New Delhi
to open Ananda Spa/Hotel and Training Centre at NanakramGuda, Hyderabad. A five
star and three star hotel at Shilparamam, Hyderabad, a three star hotel in association
with Emaar Associates, and another three star hotel at Duggam cheruvu would
add about 1500 to 2000 additional accommodation to the industry.
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