Telangana lagging behind in temple tourism

Hyderabad: It seems that after bifurcation, each of the new states will need to form its own commissionerates and departments. In fact, the temple tourism revenues will also be divided.

While the revenues generated from travel fare will go into Telangana’s account, accommodation, food and other revenues will go to the Seemandhra account.

Temple tourism spots include Tirupati, Vijayawada, Srisailam, Sri Kalahasti, Annavaram, among a host of others that have a regular inflow of pilgrims all through the year. Telangana will face a setback, as not many local temple tourist spots are well-equipped and they do not generate high revenue.  

“Since, the government of the other state will take some time to form its commissionerates, the existing packages will continue. But, we have signed a formal memorandum of understanding with all the districts and have agreed on a revenue-sharing model,”  said V. Madhusudhan, officer on special duty, department of tourism.

Both the commissionerates are working on setting up different IT gateways and infrastructure for online booking which is likely to  create  confusion for customers as to which website to make bookings on.

“There will be booking problems as both sides will offer  some common packages leading to confusion. Telangana will suffer a major setback as the temple tourism places in this region are relatively undeveloped and there will be a negative impact on the revenue side as despite their geographical location, people will continue to visit the popular deities. On  the positive side,  people will now  try and explore  temples in  Telangana,” an official from the department said.

The tourism department, however, is working on improving the infrastructure in these areas.

“We are working on building more guest houses and low-budget hotels at Dharmapuri, Vemulavada, Warangal, Yadagirigutta, Alampur, Panagallu, Urlugunda and Medak so that pilgrims have a comfortable stay during their visit,” Mr Madhusudhan said.

“We are trying to work out packages for Hanuman Jayanti or Ganesh festival to attract  tourists to Kondagattu ,” said Mr Madhusudhan.