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The proposed tourism projects in Visakhapatnam and surrounding areas remain a non-starter. The state government had announced the projects to boost tourism sector and create job opportunities.
With beaches, green hills, historic places and temples, Visakhapatnam has a lot of potential for sustainable tourism. The surrounding districts such as Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) and Parvathipuram Manyam districts too have scenic splendour.
During the Global Investors Summit (GIS), the state tourism department said AP has potential for water tourism, recreation and adventure tourism, eco tourism, beach and water tourism, rural tourism, heritage tourism, cuisine tourism, wellness tourism and temple tourism.
Considering the geographical advantage and connectivity, the government proposed high sky tower with mini-amusement park, floating restaurant, tunnel aquarium, snow park, Bheemili-Bhogapuram beach corridor, hanging and suspension bridges across Gosthani river, facelift of centuries old Dutch Cemetery, and cottages at Annavaram village on beach road.
“Visakhapatnam has been losing MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) tourism due to liquor policy (high prices of liquor and a few varieties of brands) and poor air-connectivity,” said K Vijay Mohan, president, Tours and Travel Association of Andhra (TTAA).
“There is no progress on new tourism projects. Tourism is the only sector to boost economy and create direct and indirect employment but it was ignored in Vizag and Andhra Pradesh. Odisha has been taking our MICE tourism,” he said.
Uttar Pradesh has emerged as a magnet for both foreign and domestic tourists, contributing to 20 per cent of the total tourism in India. However, the surge presents challenges in cities like Varanasi which crossed the 10-crore mark, being plagued with acute room shortage. UP Tourism Director, Prakhar Mishra, told us about what strategies have been chalked out to cater to the tourism tsunami in Varanasi.
“We are hoping that the works on the proposed floating restaurant project on abandoned ship MV Maa at Tenneti Park in Vizag will be resumed. We may get clearance from Coastal Zone Management Authority for the project since the project is located at coastal area,” said Pani Srinivasa, regional director, APTDC.“We have been inviting expressions of interest from interested agencies to develop the tourism projects in the Vizag region,” he added.
The state government is yet to identify suitable land for various new tourism projects in Vizag and other parts of the state. Vizag has been depending on tourists from West Bengal and Odisha. On average, Vizag attracts 1.8 to 2.1 crore visitors, including 50,000 to one lakh foreign visitors in a year. If we neglect the tourism sector, Vizag may lose visitors in the coming years, said stakeholders in the industry.
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