Assures of kickstarting the sector

Andhra Pradesh’s Tourism Minister Mr Kandula Durgesh recently met with the state’s leading Tourism stakeholders in the city of Vizag and deliberated on ways of making Andhra Pradesh’s tourism sector an attractive and thriving place for tourists.

In a roundtable discussion with Industry representatives, he was apprised of some of the main hurdles that the tourism sector in the state has been facing and therefore sought the government’s focus on boosting this sector.

Some of the key points discussed in the meeting included granting industry status for tourism sector, promotion of Temple tourism, Beach Shack Policy, increasing the lease period to more than 33 years, Reducing Liquor Licence rates, adopting best policies of Odisha and Gujarat to attract investments, going for Zero Cost Entry (ZCE) guideline in the policy with the waiver of Stamp Duties etc.

The Tourism minister assured them of full support in getting their demands met with and attracting more tourists to AP. Addressing the gathering Mr Durgesh reiterated the government’s whole hearted support for the sector and informed that the government is looking to aggrandize tourism infrastructure in the state and that a new tourism policy is also being worked upon.

Members requested the minister to share the Draft Tourism policy with all the Stakeholders before its Implementation.

The minister also inaugurated the AP tourism forum in order to better facilitate the sector’s demands and representations. The forum appointed Mr K. Vijay Mohan as its president, Mr Prasanth Singu as vice president, Mr Pavan Katheek as secretary, Mr Jaydeep Biswas as joint secy, & Ms Lakshmi Sridhar as the treasurer.