State's Aim Is To Attract National Attention At Cheaper Rates: Minister Durgesh

Tourism minister Kandula Durgesh expressed delight at the good response the digital campaign got for promoting rural areas and some popular tourist destinations as potential tourism hubs. “With the involvement of social media influencers and the NGO, we got over nine million views and more than 1,000 booking inquiries,” he said.

As per suggestions from the chief minister and deputy chief minister, the state tourism department started using the social media influencers for campaigns. This was unlike the conventional practice of giving advertisements in the mainline media, which involved huge sums, he said.

The minister quoted two instances of the digital campaigns. In one, as many as 11 prominent social media influencers hailing from Delhi, Rajasthan, Assam, Maharashtra, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh visited the tourist places like Araku Valley and Lambasingi in Visakhapatnam from December 13 to 20 and developed high quality content, like videos, drone shots and cinematic travel films. “When posted on social media platforms, they got nearly 40 lakh views.”

In the second case, social media influencers from Ayodhya, Kolkata, Mumbai and Odisha, visited parts of the Dr BR Ambedkar Konaseema and East Godavari districts covering areas like Athreyapuram, Antarvedi and Rajamahendravaram. They created nearly 30 reels covering Sankranti festivities and popular tourist attractions. When these were posted on social media platforms, five million views were recorded.

Based on the successful experimentation to promote tourism through social media campaigns, minister Durgesh said the AP tourism department in association with the ’Volunteer Yatra’ is working out plans to develop ‘art villages’ and expansion of the home stay network.

“It was a very interesting development. Nine million views were registered for the films and reels posted on social media platforms,” he noted