Andhra Pradesh government is gearing up to bring out a new tourism policy soon which will impart an industry status to tourism. The State has major tourist destinations that can attract both international and domestic tourists including the ancient Buddhist centres such as Amaravati Stupa.

As part of the wealth creation efforts of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, a policy is on the anvil which is likely to be announced soon, according to a senior official. 

To fine tune the policy, the government is studying tourism policies of popular States on the radar of the national and international tourists including Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka, among others, which recognised tourism as an industry. 

“An effort is also being made to attract investments from domestic and foreign players in the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) mode,’‘ the official said. 

Prospective investors

There has been considerable interest in investments in tourism in Andhra Pradesh. The Global Investor Summit (GIS) organised in Visakhapatnam by the previous YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) led by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy did attract response from industries and a slew of MoUs were entered into by the State government with prospective investors to boost tourism,

However, most of these MoUs remained only on paper. As per the latest government data, out of 117 agreements for a total investments of ₹17,127 crore, only 20 projects with a combined investment of ₹3,094 crore have been grounded and are in various stages of execution. 

The proposed new tourism policy will also aim at bringing back the investors who had backed off after entering into MoUs,

The industry status is likely to offer a host of benefits including extension of all benefits which are being offered to MSMEs now including a 5 per cent rebate on State GST and 100 per cent refund on Stamp Duty paid.

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