Meet in Visakhapatnam and Tirupati to attract tourism investments
Vijayawada:Tourism Minister Kandula Durgesh has directed tourism officials to make special arrangements for a Tourism Investors' Conference here and in Tirupati soon.
He was addressing a meeting held at the state Secretariat on Tuesday at which he reviewed the progress of various tourism-related works. He briefed officials on the proposals received during the Investors' Summit in Vijayawada last month.
Durgesh stressed the need for collaboration between the central and state governments in advancing AP’s tourism sector. Officials must ensure timely completion of the ongoing projects.
The minister discussed the investment proposals from prominent hotel chains such as Oberoi, Mayfair, Taj Group, Hyatt, Mahindra and Sterling. He reviewed proposals from aspiring industrialists and deliberated on the concessions to be offered to them under the new tourism policy.
The officials presented plans for the development of eight beaches in the state, with stress on their beautification, cleanliness, drinking water supply, and construction of toilets and bathrooms. The minister emphasized the importance of incorporating the Swachh Bharat initiatives for cleaning the beach areas and suggested partnering with local companies to support this process.
He also instructed officials to ensure that newly modernized tourism hotels would be made available to the public by the end of this month. Tourism development proposals brought by MLAs should be taken forward, he said.
The minister proposed involving film celebrities in tourism promotion.
He discussed the implementation of projects like the Akhanda Godavari and Gandikota, which will be funded by the central government's Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASKI) scheme, and provided guidance to officials on the execution of these projects.
Later, the minister met Kumar Vishwajeet, principal secretary to Home and discussed matters of the Cinematography department and the state’s new film policy. He also congratulated Vishwajeet, who was recently promoted from ADGP to DGP.
Tourism secretary Vinay Chand, tourism MD K Amrapali, tourism executive and others were present.
