Visakhapatnam: TTAA presents a wishlist to boost tourism

Visakhapatnam: Chairman of Tours and Travels Association of Andhra (TTAA) O Naresh Kumar and its president K Vijay Mohan submitted a representation listing a host of requirements that could boost tourism sector to Union Minister for Tourism, Culture and Development of North Eastern Region G Kishan Reddy in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday. As a part of it, the TTAA representatives requested the Union Minister to help develop and promote two Shakti peethas that form a part of the 18 Shakti peethas at Draksharamam and Pithapuram in East Godavari which have been neglected.

Development of the ancient Sun temple at Arasavalli and Srikurmam temple, the tortoise avatar of Lord Vishnu, in Srikakulam district with pilgrim-friendly amenities with an allocation of Rs 100 crore to develop four temples with an equal outlay of Rs 25 crore each, sanction of budgets for the development of Visakhapatnam beaches to make it more conducive for international tourists along with a light and sound show on the lines of Sentosa Island in Singapore were included in the representation.

Bringing down the tax collected at source (TCS) from the present 5 percent to 1 percent, introducing two high speed trains between Visakhapatnam to Varanasi and Visakhapatnam to Tirupati and sanctioning a complete train with Vistadome coaches to Araku form a part of the requests made to the Union Tourism Minister to help promote tourism which is slowly and steadily returning to normalcy post Covid-19 pandemic.