Emphasising on the potential of tourism, Andhra Pradesh CM, N Chandrababu Naidu pitched for developing an ecosystem in India which is favourable for tourism. Speaking on the sidelines of the CII Summit, Naidu urged for more focus on tourism in the next Union Budget. Expecting the industry to grow around 14-15 per cent in the current financial year, Naidu stressed on the need to further augment the hotel room capacity. He also highlighted how tourism opens the door for additional employment especially in the service sector such as hotels and resorts.
“In India, we have so many advantages. We have to build an environment and ecosystem which is more conducive for tourism. As tourism grows, the economy of the country will also grow,” said Naidu.
Banking on its various tourism offerings, Andhra Pradesh registered 1218.3 lakh tourist arrivals in 2015, an increase of 30 per cent over 2014.
With a long term vision of becoming the most preferred destination, Andhra Pradesh has rolled out Tourism Policy 2015–2020, offering a number of policy incentives for setting up tourism infrastructure projects in the state. Its fiscal incentives such as automatic land conversion, 100 per cent reimbursement of registration and stamp duty, reduced rate of five per cent VAT for all tourism projects, and non-fiscal incentives such as single desk approvals in 21 days, special incentives for all investments over US$ 33 million and others have been lauded by the industry. Andhra Pradesh was ranked second in ‘Ease of Doing Business’ by World Bank for 2014-2015.
The state government, which has recently unveiled an investor-friendly land lease policy, has an available land bank of 1,500 acres and a host of other investment routes in tourism infrastructure projects across all of its five major tourist hubs of Visakhapatnam, Konaseema, Amravati, Rayalseema and Tirupati. According to a study by HVS, the state which has an existing room inventory of approximately 7085 rooms, has further absorption potential of about 18,150 rooms.
Srikanth Nagulapalli, principal secretary, tourism and culture, Government of Andhra Pradesh, said, “Andhra Pradesh is a land of opportunities. We have some of the finest tourist destinations in the country and the scope of investment is also plenty. Our investor-friendly policies in itself make a strong appeal towards the investors to come and be a part of this growth journey.”
