At a review meeting on tourism at the Secretariat at Velagapudi near here on Tuesday, Mr. Naidu said that abundant opportunities existed in eco, temple and beach tourism in the State. He said that besides employment being generated through tourism, it would also generate revenue for the State government.
The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) was 20.6% during the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) regime, it fell to 3.3%, he said, while claiming that the tourism sector was grossly neglected, and the previous government did not spend even half of what was spent on Rushikonda Palace, on the sector. The YSRCP government spent ₹500 crore on Rushikonda Palace, he said.
‘No new investments’
The Chief Minister further said that the companies that had entered into agreements with the government during the TDP rule shifted to other States under YSRCP rule, and there were no new investments in tourism sector.
“The TDP government spent ₹880 crore on the tourism sector, while it was a mere ₹213 crore during the YSRCP regime. The TDP government signed MoUs with 190 companies, and investments worth ₹1,939 crore. These MoUs were expected to generate employment for 10,573 people. In comparison, the previous government entered into agreement with 117 companies, while only three were materialised,” he said.
“The TDP government conducted 105 events to promote tourism, and YSRCP only 44 events. The agreements relating to eco, temple and beach tourism projects entered into during 2014-19 need to be revived and taken to a logical conclusion,” he added.
Meet with CBC chairman
Meanwhile, Mr. Naidu said that he met a delegation of the Capacity Building Commission (CBC) led by their chairman Adil Zainulbhai.
In a post on ‘X’ on Tuesday, Mr. Naidu said that he asked the CBC to help establish a global institute of good governance in Amaravati. “The GoAP shall sign an MoU with CBC for employee training. I’ve also asked the Chief Secretary to develop a training policy and form a task force to monitor progress. Our goal is to train our employees in delivering people-friendly governance using advanced technologies like AI,” he wrote.
