Andhra Pradesh Magazine English May 2016

TOURISM BOOST TO AP T View from Horsely Hills, Chittoor Dist he sunrise state of Andhra Pradesh, offering a plethora of enchanting yet unexplored tourist destinations, is eying eyes investments worth Rs. 20,000 Cr by 2029. The state has set a target of Rs. 10, 000 cr investments by 2020. In its efforts to fuel the engine of growth in the tourism sector, aA shelf of district and theme based projects worth Rs. 36,000 have already been prepared and initiated. The year 2015-16 witnessed the tourism sector track investments worth Rs.12,000 crores from approximately 160 projects generating an employment potential of about 35,000. Projects worth Rs.1,500 crores have already been grounded. This momentum in investments is further going to pick up in the year 2016-17. Steep rise in Tourist footfalls In year 2015, the State has seen a jump in the tourist footfalls to the tune of 30%, increasing from 93 million in 2014 to 122 million in 2015. "In our endeavour to make Andhra Pradesh as India's most preferred tourist destination, this data comes to us as a great encouragement," Andhra Pradesh Principal Secretary, Tourism and Culture, Neerabh Kumar Prasad said. Anantapur district which houses the famous Puttaparthi and Lord Veerbhadra temple at Lepakshi, became the most visited destination by foreign tourists with a footfall of 1.37 lakh foreigners. Among international tourist arrivals, 2.37 lakh tourists visited the state during 2015 against 66,333 in 2014. Majority of the foreign tourists were from the South East Asian countries like 14 Singapore, Malaysia and the Middle East, among others. Attractive Tourism Policy In a bid to match investor expectations with the state’s resoluteness of intent, the Government of Andhra Pradesh in its award winning Andhra Pradesh Tourism Policy 2015-20 announced an array of incentives to investors for taking up tourism infrastructure projects and services such as a fixed land rental of 2% of basic market value for investors, reduction in VAT slabs to 5% for hotels. Among its various other plans to give an impetus to tourism in the state, the government is providing best tourism packages with option of multi-modal transportation for a tourist and is setting up an Indian Culinary Institute at Tirupati in addition to Hospitality Management Institute at Tirupati and Kakinada. To promote MICE tourism in the state, the government plans to develop Mega Convention C

Andhra Pradesh Magazine English May 2016 | Page 14