Tourism destinations within the state fail to attract tourists due to the lack of basic facilities such as drinking water, changing rooms and washrooms. Also, the tour packages operated by the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation are impractical, sometimes providing a halt at destinations for as little as 10 minutes. An example for this is the Nagarjunasagar tour operated by the APTDC, which has a 10-minute halt at Ethipothala waterfalls, which tourists find insufficient even for taking a few pictures, leave alone taking a stroll around.
“Without decently maintained washrooms or even availability of chilled drinking water bottles, the Rishikonda tour seemed to be more of an exhausting tour than a relaxing one,” said a tourist who had visited the destination recently. In most day-long tours operated by the Tourism Development Corporation, most of the day is spent travelling. In order to squeeze in a good number of spots into the package, they have to halt at many places for just 15 or 30 minutes. The maximum halt-time at any destination, which also includes lunch, is about 45 minutes at the most. “It was a very unfulfilling experience when it came to hurried halts during the Nagarjunasagar trip. Also, the choice of food was limited at the APTDC guest house,” said V. Anand, a tourist.
Tourist flight plan fails to take off
The tourism department’s much-hyped plan to introduce flights connecting tourist destinations in the state remains a mere concept on paper even after six months. Observers point out that the state’s attempt to popularise interesting tourist destinations has failed, with tourism in AP being confined to religious places. Chairman and managing director of APTDC Sandeep Kumar Sultania said that although the Corporation has cleared the plan and is negotiating a tie-up with the travel company Makemytrip, things have not progressed as desired. “We are in talks with the company for linking all our package tours currently offered to various destinations within India. But, their process is a bit elaborate. Nothing has progressed so far,” he said.
Makemytrip has tie-ups with Jet Airways, which was expected to be the connecting flight provider to the destinations. Places like Papikondalu, Bhadrachalam, Konnaseema, Araku and Vizag, which are slowly becoming preferred tourist destinations, need to have enhanced connectivity to stand out against a dozen other destinations across south India.