Hyderabad to emerge as tourism hub - TeluguPeople.com News

Hyderabad: In a bid to boost tourism, the Telangana government is working on establishing designated hotel and health corridors in the city, modelled on the lines of popular health tourism destinations in Dubai and Singapore.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao recently spoke of his desire to encourage tourism in general and particularly the health tourism in the city.

His son and Information Technology Minister K T Rama Rao has also been promoting youth and leisure activities in Hyderabad as he asserts that it would bring in tourists from across the world.

The Minister recounted an incident when he had suggested Hyderabad as the destination for the annual meet of a company he was working for. 'I wanted my colleagues to hold their conference in Hyderabad, but they eventually chose Singapore because it had facilities like golf courses and luxury hotels that were not available here,' he said.

He also spoke of establishing such facilities in the city, the first of which was the Hyderabad Golf Association that was inaugurated recently.

In Singapore and Dubai, two of the most happening cities in the East, if not the entire world, tourism is one of the major contributing factors to the economy.

According to the latest available statistics, Singapore attracts 1.31 crore tourists annually, while Dubai is estimated to attract about 90 lakh visitors.

Exact figures for Hyderabad are not available. According to Tourism Department, in 2011, approximately 2.3 lakh foreign tourist arrivals and 82 lakh domestic tourist arrivals were recorded in Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts.

From this, it is clear that Hyderabad has the potential to stand neck and neck with the two global cities, as it attracts about 85 lakh tourists. However, as the domestic tourists represent almost 98 per cent of tourism, the Government feels that new facilities are to be constructed to encourage foreign tourists to set foot in the City of Pearls.

For the past couple of years, tourism officials were ruing the fact that agitations in the city as part of the demand for separate Telangana State were adversely affecting the tourism potential.

The newly formed Telangana Tourism department is optimistic about upturn in fortunes and is confident that initiatives taken up by the Government would woo tourists.

The city has numerous tourist attractions, like the renowned Charminar, Golconda Fort in addition to other popular places like Chowmahalla and Falaknuma Palaces, Salarjung Museum, Nehru Zoological Park and Qutb Shahi Tombs to name but a handful.

While the tourist attractions are there, representatives of hotel and travel associations agree that there needs be dedicated hotel and tourism corridors developed to attract foreign tourists.

A network of hotels, tourist nodal services and corridors are necessary to create a transparent, modern and accessible tourism industry. As tourists search for tourist destinations online, the tourism department is making efforts to beef up its online presence. The department has plans to provide more information about various destinations, services and entertainment activities available in the city.