Telangana Expands Water Tourism With Floating Restaurants, Houseboats
Telangana plans floating restaurants, luxury cruise boats and houseboats at six water bodies to expand its water-based tourism offerings.
Telangana is expanding its water tourism offerings with plans for floating restaurants, luxury dine-in cruise boats and houseboats at six water bodies, even as the state has already introduced the 120-seat double-decker cruise boat Muchukunda on Hussainsagar.
The Telangana Tourism Development Corporation has invited private agencies to develop and operate the new water-based tourism facilities under the public-private partnership model. The proposed floating restaurants and cruise boats will come up at Ibrahimpatnam Cheruvu, Kokapet Lake and Malkam Cheruvu in Hyderabad, while houseboats are planned at Nagarjunasagar, Somasila and Ramappa Lake.
According to the tender, each floating restaurant or luxury dine-in cruise is expected to have seating for around 100 passengers, while houseboats will have a minimum of five air-conditioned bedrooms with attached bathrooms. The projects will have to meet at least three-star hospitality standards.
The selected agencies will be required to invest a minimum of `5 crore for each floating restaurant and `5 crore for a houseboat at each location. The agreement period will be 10 years, with development expected to be completed within 12 months.
The facilities will include restaurants, lounges, viewing decks and other visitor amenities, besides safety arrangements such as life jackets, lifebuoys, fire-fighting equipment, first-aid facilities, GPS and navigation systems. Operators will be required to run the facilities throughout the year, with at least one trip a day for cruise operations, subject to applicable regulations and weather conditions.
Tourism, culture and archaeology minister Jupally Krishna Rao also released a report on the sector’s progress during the completion of 1,000 days of the state government. The report highlighted the Telangana Tourism Policy 2025–30, the first tourism policy after state formation, which targets `15,000 crore in tourism investments and three lakh additional jobs.
The government has identified 27 special tourism areas and six tourism clusters covering spiritual, heritage, eco-wellness, handicrafts, water and Buddhist tourism.
Investment proposals worth `22,324 crore have been attracted through the Tourism Conclave and Telangana Rising Global Summit, with the projects expected to generate about 90,000 direct and indirect jobs.
