Termed as the ‘Jewel of East Coast’ with its scenic stretch of beaches and lush hills, ‘Brand Vizag’ got a big boost at the recently concluded CII Partnership Summit with several MoUs signed with investors. Taking the tourism buzz many notches higher, AP Tourism Development Corporation is now promoting ‘Brand Vizag’ with a series of events and initiatives starting with the much-awaited Visakha Utsav from February 3 to 5.
A brand new logo designed by AP Tourism Director Himanshu Shukla was unveiled at the summit. “The whole idea is to promote each and every region of AP with a distinct identity such as having different branding strategies for Vizag and Amaravati. For that, we are trying to decentralise the tourism departments for the ease of administration and for easy allocation of funds. As part of this initiative, we will be recruiting a team of youngsters for the Vizag tourism office under the Regional Tourist Information Bureau who will conceptualise and implement bi-monthly cultural festivals in Visakhapatnam,” head of the Regional Information Bureau K. Gnanaveni told The Hindu .
As part of the branding strategy for Vizag, 3,000 college students will be sporting t-shirts with the new logo and participating in a walkathon from YMCA to Kali Temple on February 3 ahead of the inaugural function of Visakha Utsav. The walkathon will culminate in a formation reflecting the word ‘Vizag’ at the venue opposite Kali Temple.
Cultural festivals
This apart, the Tourism Department is planning to host theme-based cultural festivals such as kite festival, rangoli festival, tomato festival (based on Tomatina festival of Spain) every month starting from this summer. “Every alternate weekend of the month, we will host a classical and western music festival alternately. The venue for the classical festival will be Kailasagiri and will highlight the classical music traditions of our country along with craft stalls and Indian cuisine counters. The Beach Road will be the venue for the western music festival which will see a confluence of DJs and showcase world cuisine at the food stalls,” Ms. Ganaveni said.
