A mission document is under preparation as part of the tourism policy of the State government to make tourism the growth engine to spur economic growth of the new Andhra Pradesh, Principal Secretary (Tourism and Culture) Neerabh K. Prasad has said.
Andhra Pradesh Tourism has bagged the ‘Best Tourism Board’ at the India Travel Awards-South 2015 at the awards function held here on Thursday night.
“The new Tourism Policy is ‘most investor-friendly’ and entrepreneurs are assured of speedy clearances. A ‘hub and spoke’ model will be adopted to develop the tourist circuits in A.P.”, Mr. Prasad told this reporter on the sidelines of the awards function. Citing an example, he said: “Visakhapatnam already has an international airport and information on the places of tourist interest like Buddhist heritage sites, ancient temples, beach resorts and other attractions in the region would be showcased to the tourists on arrival at the airport.” The Vijayawada and Tirupati Airports would be made tourism hubs to promote places of attraction in the respective regions and Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar would be promoted through the Hyderabad Airport as they were closer to Hyderabad. The target is to achieve Rs.10,000 crore in the next five years through products and services like sea cruise, water sports, hotels and resorts.
A detailed plan has been worked out to attract private investors.
