Hyderabad: The existing state of Andhra Pradesh banks heavily on ‘temple tourism', primarily at Tirupati and Srisailam. While this brings many domestic tourists, the state has not been able to attract many foreign tourists.
Globally, ‘special interest’ tourism is the latest trend. Tourists are keen to know and experience more about the local culture, arts and craft etc.
After bifurcation, both states must think up new ways of attracting tourists and upgrading tourism infrastructure, which is currently inadequate.
“To benefit from the global trends now catching on in the country, we need to give tourists more options and also create the related infrastructure. AP has remained largely untouched by foreign tourists. There is an increase in unaccompanied tourists travelling to many parts of the country, but we are not on the list of most travellers within India. This is where the opportunity lies,” said a senior official from the tourism department.
The state currently has a large share of religious tourism, accounting for 85 per cent of tourism in the state. Most pilgrimage sites are in Seemandhra, such as the famous Lord Venkateshwara temple at Tirupati, the Mallikarjuna Swamy temple at Srisailam, Simhachalam near Visakhapatnam and Kanaka Durga temple at Vijayawada.
“Telangana has only two famous pilgrimage sites, Bhadrachalam in Khammam and Thousand Pillar temple in Warangal,” says the official from the tourism department.
“Beaches could be another tourist attraction which the tourism department wants to focus on and this will again benefit Seemandhra region. Telangana can benefit from tribal tourism and village, but the region will have to begin from scratch in all kinds of tourism, after bifurcation,” added the official of the tourism department.
