The Cabinet on Thursday approved 10 mega tourism projects, including luxury resorts, star hotels and spiritual tourism projects, at various locations in the State.
“The projects are planned with an expected investment of more than ₹2,800 crore, and will create employment opportunities for about 48,000 people,” said Special Chief Secretary, Tourism and Culture, Rajat Bhargava.
“Tourism contributes to about 7% to the GSDP of Andhra Pradesh and is one of the most important sectors to bring investments and generate employment, while enabling growth of agriculture, transport, handloom and consumer goods due to its strong backward linkages,” Mr. Bhargava said in a statement.
Referring to the State Tourism Policy, he said it offered best-in-class incentives for development of tourism establishments.
He said the 10 proposed projects of hotels and resorts were a mix of PPP and private investments. They included luxury resorts with 7-Star facilities by the Oberoi Group.
The group proposes to develop a resort with 300 independent villas at Annavaram village of Bheemunipatnam mandal in Visakhapatnam district in over 40 acres (₹350 crore); a resort with 100 independent villas at Peruru in Tirupati in over 20 acres (₹250 crore); 120 independent villas at Gandikota of Jammalamadugu mandal in Kadapa district in 50 acres (₹250 crore); 120 villas at Horsely Hills of B. Kothakota mandal in Chittoor district in 21 acres (₹250 crore); and 150 villas at Pichukalanka of Atreyapuram mandal in East Godavari district in 30 acres (₹250 crore).
Mega spiritual centre
A mega spiritual centre and a tourist base camp was proposed to be developed at Penukonda in Anantapur district by ISKCON Charities.
“It is being designed to attract footfall of more than 10,000 pilgrims every month, and the estimated cost of the project is ₹100 crore. It will come up in an area of 75 acres,” said Mr. Bhargava.
Besides, the Cabinet also approved grant of incentives for star hotels under ‘Hyatt’ and ‘Taj’ brands in Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati.
“Today is an important day for AP Tourism and the proposed projects will facilitate more investments in the sector,” he said.
