Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy instructed officials of the Tourism Department to take steps that would transform the State into a popular tourist destination with due focus on developing a London-Eye-type project in Visakhapatnam.
Addressing a meeting of the State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) on Wednesday, Mr. Jagan said a concerted effort should be made to attract international tourists by providing state-of-the-art facilities.
He instructed the officials to complete the projects on time and pointed out that the potential of the tourism sector to provide jobs should be fully tapped.
Officials told the Chief Minister that investments in the tourism projects amounting to ₹2,868.60 crore were in the pipeline with a scope to create employment for 48,000 people. The number of rooms would go up by 1,564 on completion of these projects in about five years.
The proposed projects include Oberoi resorts in Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Gandikota, Horsley Hills and Pitchukalanka (East Godavari district) in the name of Oberoi Villas, a star hotel and convention centre at Shilparamam in Visakhapatnam by the Hyatt Group, a hotel and service apartment in Visakhapatnam by Taj Group, a tunnel aquarium and sky tower construction in the port city, a Hyatt Palace Hotel in Vijayawada, a spiritual tourism center under the auspices of ISKCON Charities at Gnanagiri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple at Penugonda in Anantapur district.
Ministers Buggana Rajendranath Reddy (Finance), Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao (Tourism), K. Kannababu (Agriculture) and G. Jayaram (Labour and Employment), Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, Special Cchief Secretaries R. Karikal Valaven (Industries and cCmmerce), Rajat Bhargav (Tourism and Culture), K. Praveen Kumar (GAD) and others were present.
