HBI Staff | Hyderabad 
The Telangana Legislative Assembly on Tuesday approved the state’s first-ever tourism policy — Telangana Tourism Policy 2025-30 — a comprehensive framework to attract investments, create employment and increase the state GDP, while facilitating ‘safe tourism’.
Introducing the tourism policy in the Assembly, Tourism & Culture Minister Jupally Krishna Rao said that the tourism sector was grossly neglected in the last 10 years. He also noted that the tourism sector witnessed losses during the last 10 years.
The tourism policy is also aimed creating infrastructure like tourist attraction projects close to Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, dry ports along the proposed Regional Ring Road (RRR), shopping facilities, river based tourism, and creating Special Tourism Areas (STAs).
The Telangana Tourism Policy 2025-30 is designed to provide necessary impetus to tourism infrastructure development with strategic concessions and incentives to significantly accelerate the establishment of new tourism projects. It is expected to promote Telangana as one among the top tourist destinations across the globe with effective branding strategies, capacity-building and institutional mechanisms, reads the policy document.
The government also proposes to establish the State Tourism Promotion Board (STPB), Empowered Committee (EC), State Tourism Promotion Committee (STPC), Destination Management Organisations (DMOs), and special frameworks for the implementation of tourism policy.
The key objectives include: Attract Rs 15,000 crore new investments to the tourism sector in next five years, to create additional employment opportunities for three lakh people, to position the state in top five states in domestic and international tourist arrivals. The government also proposes to return 50 per cent of state GST collected, and give special incentives to some of the tourism projects.
As part of providing safe tourism experience, the policy has provisions to create dedicated tourist police units/tourist patrols across the key tourist destinations. The tourism policy also acknowledged women-friendly measures to ensure the safety of female tourists, and leverage Tourism Friendly Index (TFI) to evaluate the safety standards of destinations.
Proposed infrastructure development
• Position Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad as focal point by creating iconic projects in the vicinity, within one to two hours drive
• Develop dry ports along the proposed Regional Ring Road (RRR) duly connecting it with Greenfield Highway to Machilipatnam Port, thus facilitating it as hub for construction materials /building materials shopping and promoting business tourism
• Promote Godavari and Krishna river tourism by developing jetties and launch stations, water sports, house-boats and initiate “River Festivals” on the lines of Venice Water Carnival
• Encourage Waterfront development along the lakes in urban areas as weekend getaways with adventure activities, kids’ zone and local retail outlets
• Explore golf tourism potential in the state
• Conduct Familiarisation (FAM) trips for domestic and international travel community, more importantly South East Asian countries for attracting large numbers of Buddhist tourists & investments to the state
(Source: New Indian Express)
