Chandrababu Naidu to Address Tourism Conclave

The conclave was inaugurated by retired chief secretary and vice-chairman of Global Forum for Sustainable Transformation S.P. Tucker on Thursday. This was followed by a presentation on Andhra Pradesh’s tourism offerings by Amrapali Kata, CEO and MD of Andhra Pradesh Tourism.

Six thematic panel discussions — Creative Economy, Products and Projects, Investments, Tech AI, Branding and Marketing, and Capacity Building — brought together IAS officers, nodal officials, consultants, academicians, and industry leaders. Each panel engaged in a three-hour, in-depth dialogue, formulating strategic recommendations for the state's five-year tourism roadmap.

Chaired by Rekha Rani (handloom commissioner), one of the panels included experts from the INDFAME and Wizcraft, and other creative sectors.

Recommendations focused on leveraging technology to amplify cultural tourism through virtual experiences, digital storytelling, smart guides, and creator-centric platforms. Emphasis was laid on GI-tagged exports, NFTs, and convergence across arts, culture, and tourism.

Moderated by Prakhar Jain (CEO, RTGS), with inputs from MMT, Digitory, EY, GFST, and Thomas Cook, another panel proposed developing an integrated tourism data pipeline, a tourism super app, AI-driven chatbots, and intelligent itinerary generators to enhance visitor experience over the next five years.

Moderated by Himanshu Shukla (Director, I&PR), with stakeholders like Mastercard, Park Hotel, EaseMyTrip, and E-Factor, one panel advocated a new brand positioning strategy, state tourism tagline, user-generated storytelling, an online portal for event approvals and an unified five-year marketing roadmap.