Floating Cottages, Oceanarium and More For Andhra Pradesh

The Andhra Pradesh government has announced innovative tourism plans for the state (yet again). Water sports, floating cottages and restaurants that will collaborate with foreign agencies are some of the plans that they’ve announced.

With the help of this foreign collaboration, the state aims to get 15 per cent share as a target in the total State’s Gross State Domestic Production (GSDP). The Chief Minister has taken the above decisions after a meeting held at Velagapudi yesterday. He has instructed officials to focus on water sports in Vizag, Vijayawada and Rajamahendravaram soon.

The government has additionally accepted the proposal to develop Bhavani island as a major tourist destination. The island will have a fountain and a multimedia show by its banks to increase the tourist footfall. The Tourism Corporation reportedly wants to set up a musical fountain with a water screen that will display laser and highlight projections. The water works, music and laser show will then be synchronised to create a mesmerising show to atleast 250 spectators.

The proposed fountain is all set to be 75 meters wide and 25 meters tall with features the likes of Bellagio fountain of Las Vegas and the Burj Khalifa fountain of Dubai. The content of the laser show will be highlighting themes relevant to Andhra Pradesh’s culture. The project is all touted to debut by Dussehra.

The project was approved at the meeting chaired by CM Chandrababu Naidu where the Minister for Tourism Department Bhuma Akhila Priya gave a presentations on all the plans lined up. They are now monitoring as many as 113 tourism projects in the state. The Tourism Officials informed the CM that 75 projects worth Rs 3341 crore have been grounded whereas 38 other projects worth Rs 10,958 crore are soon to come.

The domestic footfall of Andhra Pradesh has increased by over 30 percent as compared to last year. It stood at 98 million in 2014 and increased to 158.5 million by March 2017. The international arrival has also picked up over the years, now standing at 3.24 lakh. The GSDP contribution stood at 6.8% in 2014 and right now, it stands at 7.03%.

The room carrying capacity has increased to 8835 by March 2017 from 6742 in 2014. The department now aims at attracting private sector investments worth Rs 2200 crore for infrastructure development. They have decided to add 1500 rooms to 5 star hotels for the year 2017-18. The tourism department has also signed a MoU with a Spanish consultant for an Oceanarium in Visakhapatnam.