Visakha Utsav lacks planning

Visakhapatnam: The much-hyped three-day Visakha Utsav and Araku Utsav, both cultural festivals planned in Andhra Pradesh from December 25, might be a damp squib again in attracting tourists from across India and foreign countries due to shortage of time. There is hardly two weeks time to promote the fest.

The Visakha Utsav held in January, 2015, had failed to evoke response from travellers as the officials faltered in publicising the event in major cities in the country. Besides, they had no brand ambassador to promote the event and the programmes in the event also were disappointing.

It takes at least 6-8 months time to plan and publicise events of such magnanimity. Though the district administration and ministers had announced that Visakha Utsav will be organised as a state function from Dec. 25 to 27, no concrete step has been taken so far in that direction. Neither have the authorities given any publicity to the festival nor have they been making any arrangements for the event.

A few days ago, HRD minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao said they have learnt some lessons from the failures during the earlier Visakha Utsav. He hoped the December fest will improve the city’s brand image and will attract more tourists from other states and countries. RK Beach will be the main venue for the festival like in the past and programmes would also be held at Vuda Park, Kailasagiri and few other places in the city, he added.

A.V. Monish Row, vice-president of The Vizagapatam Chamber of Commerce and Industry felt the festival could not be organised in a grand manner as it was just 20 days away and the district adminstration seems to have done nothing so far. "Post bifurcation, Vizag is the only tourist destination and it requires advance planning to organise the event to attract tourists from different parts of the country and abroad,” he said.