States Of Affairs

Will The Tourism Model Change Course In AP, Karnataka With New Ministers?

The topic under scrutiny is about South India’s two promising states - Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh (AP) - that hold immense tourism potential for the future. Vyas Sivanand travels through the states to find out whether the current trend would be backed by concrete action under the new tourism team

Two states in India have had wildcard entries into the world of commercialisation, professionalism, attitude and the making of ‘at awe’ expression. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh (AP) are examples that leads one to believe that life has an honest reason to sustain and reign supreme...in the making though.

A brief analysis of these two vast boundaries has given interesting results. Governed more by politics, these states have experienced the luxury of being pampered to the hilt. Pampered to an extent where the potentiality is hyped and marketed but it lacks the punch of true realisation. Aptly expressed by Shankara G Mallige of Travel Mind, Hyderabad, “Development is a phase, which has to happen and no one can stop it. But if it is done just for the sake of it, the whole issue gets diluted. The actual punch comes if the phase has a direction. In Andhra, there was a time when all roads led to Hyderabad. But now, thanks to democracy, we are spreading out.

But are we addressing a brand called Hyderabad, which has been globally ‘created’ or are we addressing the rural concern just to remain in the political chair. These are the two contrasting questions, which I often ask now.”

Debacles in politics are not new, wherein the issues initiated are kept on hold and the implementation work and process are many a times shelved. This is exactly what both the states have experienced. When Mahendra Jain, commissioner, Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC), was contacted, he had a safe answer, “The ministry is with the chief minister (CM). It would be best if you could wait to hear about the new initiations from the minister itself.” A source from KSTDC was rather hopeful when he said, “Renuka Choudhary, minister of state for tourism had studied in Karnataka so I am sure she will consider promoting Karnataka also. While she belongs to AP, which is a close competitor to our state in all areas, I think Karnataka will also be benefited.”

Deve Gowda, the former Prime Minister of the country showed a lot of favouritism to Karnataka when he was in power and a scrutiny did prove that it was because of him that Bangalore finally realised its potential of going global. The state of Punjab is hoping to gain something similar with Manmohan Singh in power. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have tourist potential but to implement it in the model of Kerala remains far-fetched. According to an official source from the industry, “I do not think we are talking about Andhra Pradesh or Karnataka, I think we are talking about Hyderabad and Bangalore. Here lies the sad part. We are not known because of our natural bounty, we are known because of business, which ultimately trickles down to cheap but robust labour. By default, both the cities have shot into the limelight due to the fact that by default, we exist globally because our talent comes cheap, period.” Tourism in Andhra Pradesh is rolling under the new leadership of Geetha Reddy. She has initiated the rural tourism concept on the lines of the thought process of Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. ‘Go rural’ is the mantra. According to Geetha Reddy,tourism minister, government of AP, “We have plans to focus specially on rural tourism, heritage tourism, district tourism, pilgrim tourism and health tourism. While focusing on these areas, the objective is not merely to generate revenues from them but also to create employment and most importantly to project the richness and cultural diversity of the State. The State has 104 Buddhist sites that would attract a large number of tourists from South-East and Far East Asia. Development of cultural clusters in every district is on our agenda by which tourists could also visit the places of origin from where the handicrafts are produced. Various community-based rural tourism projects like Kuchipudi and Pochampalli village will be taken up on priority. We are also planning to introduce a Night Bazaar in the Charminar area, which can be covered by visitors utilising the ’Hyderabad by Night’ tour.” Sadly, Karnataka has no initiatives apart from roping in CGH Earth for its resort development in Hampi. The prospective Formula One venue, Olympics venue, etc, seem to be just a joke. “Our aim is to portray Karnataka as a preferred sports destination. We plan to have world scale sports facilities in the state. We are bidding for hosting Formula One races in the state and our only competition is from Andhra Pradesh, who are also bidding for the same,” Jain had once said.

Bangalore used to give an impression that its entity as the future ’happening’ city of the country is not so much blind as totally headless. But today, it has come a long way. Development has been happening and the world does consider the city as a ’happening’ place. But still there is more to be done. Infrastructure is antipathetic. The city offers a striking contrast; India’s finest base of engineering talent also suffers from bad roads and inadequate power. The state leads India in software exports and boasts of India’s largest pool of IT manpower. However, infrastructure is the city’s Achilles heel. As for Hyderabad, it will now be have a tough time. According to G Gunashakara Reddy, proprietor, Avistas India, “Hyderabad had a good time till now. It will now suffer. If the city has a soul, it is time to weep. Going rural is mandatory for the government but with the impression the city has given, I just hope we do not weep for too long.” Bangalore or Hyderabad have been carved to do business. What happens to Andhra Pradesh or Karnataka will purely depend on them and time will tell.