About a dozen major tourism projects are under implementation in Andhra Pradesh at a capital cost of Rs 700 crore.
A few more projects costing a few hundred crores of rupees are also on the anvil, according to Minister for Tourism Dr J Geeta Reddy.
Speaking to newsmen after launching the AP Tourism Policy 2006 on Sunday, Reddy said that the new projects included star hotels, urban entertainment centre, health spas, multi-theme park, convention centres, food courts, etc.
The Delhi-based Indian Hotels and Health Resorts Hospitality Private Limited and the state government is setting up a world-class spa, hotel and training centre in an area of 14 acres at Nanakramguda on the city outskirts at an estimated cost of Rs 100 crore.
The project is scheduled for completion by September 2007.
To bridge the demand supply gap for star hotel rooms in Hyderabad, which requires 2,000 additional rooms per day for 2006-07, the government has decided to set up a five-star hotel with 250 rooms and 100 service apartments through private participation of a consortium consisting of My Home Constructions Pvt Ltd, VBC Pvt Ltd and Eastern India Hotels Ltd at a project cost of Rs 214 crore.
An urban entertainment centre with mega shopping mall, multiplexes, business convention centres, ethnic bazaar and other unique theme parks is coming up at a 5.61 acre at Bashirbagh in the City.
A consortium of Pantaloon India Limited and SBPL INFRASTRUCTURE LTD is developing the Rs 137.53-crore project.
A food courts project at Lower Bank Bund near Hussainsagar lake in the city is being developed by Hyderabad Expo Trade Centre Pvt Ltd at a cost of Rs 7.5 crore. The project is scheduled for inauguration by the end of December. A budget hotel to cater to the needs of middle class domestic tourists is also being developed at Lower Tank bund on a 2.88-acre site at an estimated cost of Rs 40 crore.
A multi-level car parking lot is being developed at a cost of Rs 10 crore at Lower Tank to cater to the needs of tourists.
An eco-friendly spa with organic food restaurant is planned at Durgam Cheruvu (Secret Lake) in Jubilee Hills area. A drive-in-theatre-cum-parking facility with ethnic food courts is also planned opposite Shilparamam near Hitec City at Madhapur.
AP, along with neighbouring states, has taken up a project to introduce a luxury train to explore the splendour of south Indian states -- AP, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karnataka and Kerala. It is also proposed to develop a chain of 36 budget hotels at various places in the state to develop the tourism potential of these areas by providing essential infrastructure facilities.
Four major tourism projects are also being implemented in the port city of Visakhapatnam on the north Andhra coast. These include a Rs 20-crore international health spa and hotel along the Beach Road from Vizag to Bheemli on a 32-acre site. A unique multi-theme park is coming up at Kapuluppada along the Beach Road on a 40-acre site at an estimated cost of Rs 20 crore.
The other projects include a three-star hotel, budget hotel and business convention centre at Sheelanagar near the steel town of Gajuwaka at an outlay of Rs 20 crore and an urban entertainment centre with shopping mall and multiplexes at Sheelanagar at a cost of Rs 30 crore.
Tourism & Culture Secretary Chitra Ramachandran said that the state topped the list of all states with about 9.25 crore tourists thronging the tourist destinations, thus making AP the No. 1 in domestic tourism in the country during 2005-06. She said that tourism has been identified as a growth engine and given industry status for employment and income generation in the rural sector. "Andhra Pradesh is a destination that can fit into all categories of tourism, including heritage, pilgrimage, eco, leisure and adventure tourism," she observed.
She said that under the new Tourism Policy-2006, incentives and concessions will be extended to the new tourism units set up after January 1, 2005 in the notified tourism areas and special tourism areas. The incentives and concessions include concession allotment of land, investment subsidy, upgradation of hotels to international star 3 standards, reimbursement of stamp duty and transfer fee, reimbursement of value added tax, luxury tax and entertainment tax, floor area index relaxation, automatic conversion/exemption from land use zoning regulations, treating hotels as industry for purpose of power tariff and investment subsidy on heritage hotels. A separate fund will be created with sufficient budgetary allocations for sanction of incentives.