Andhra Pradesh to brand itself 'sunrise' state as per new tourism policy

Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh government is working on a new tourism policy to attract investments worth Rs 10,000 crores by 2020, a state government release said on Monday. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu who held a review with officials on the tourism sector, told them to finalise a new tourism policy by the month end, the release said.

The new policy would be unveiled in the temple town of Tirupati, the statement said. The Chief Minister asked officials to promote Andhra Pradesh as a "sunrise state", using the word 'sunrise' as a prefix for Andhra Pradesh.

According to the statement, Naidu told officials that tourism should emerge as an important revenue source by 2029. Stating that merely 98 million tourists visit the state annually, he said that the number should grow to 172 million by 2020.

Observing that the state government would act as a facilitator by creating infrastructure, he said tourism could be promoted through private investments and the PPP model.

The government would permit investments in the sector through a 'single desk' policy, Naidu said in the statement.

Noting that the state's long coastline on the eastern shores of the country and its vast water resources are assets to the state, the Chief Minister said these could be turned into an important source of revenue.

Naidu also emphasised on promoting "theme tourism" including beach tourism, recreational tourism, religious tourism, Buddhist tourism, spiritual tourism, eco tourism and heritage tourism.

Observing that tourism is being developed on a large scale in some foreign countries though they lacked other things, Naidu said that the state possessed great potential in comparison, the statement said.