Hyderabad: Telangana Tourism expects increase of 20 per cent in foreign tourist arrivals and 30 per cent growth in domestic tourist footfall to the state by end of 2023 as compared to pre-COVID level, a senior government official said.
Telangana witnessed domestic tourist arrivals of 3,20,00,620 while international tourists numbered 5,917 in 2021.
For this year, domestic arrivals increased to 3,95,53,865 and international arrivals rose to 35,945 up to July.
During 2019 when the pandemic had not yet set in, the domestic arrivals in the state was 8,30,35,894 while the number of foreign travellers was 3,23,326.
Already, there is increase in the count of foreign travellers visiting Telangana and there has been growth in domestic tourists arriving this year, the official said.
“Our target is to increase international tourist arrivals by 20 per cent, and also domestic tourist arrivals by 30 per cent by 2023-end,” Telangana State Tourism Development Corporation (TSTDC) Managing Director B Manohar told PTI.
“After COVID, there has been increase of tourists flow to all tourism destinations in the state. The occupancy in our hotels, water fleet and buses are getting more number of tourists. Local tourists flow has also increased tremendously,” he said.
Tourists are preferring packages to visit destinations, the official said, adding by organising and participating in events, campaigns promoting tourism destinations the focus is to attract more tourists to the state.
“We promoted Ramappa temple (which has been recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage site) and Pochampally, known for its famous hand-woven Ikat saris,” Manohar said.
Pochampally village, located about 50 km from here, was selected as one of the best Tourism Villages by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).
Telangana Tourism has also been undertaking digital campaigns to attract tourists from both international and domestic sectors to various destinations in the state.
“Good facilities have been developed at the destinations. Every district we are planning to develop ‘Haritha’ hotel, so that people can stay there and can go to surrounding destinations,” the official said.
With the facilities provided by the government, the interest of national tourists towards Telangana has increased. Domestic tourism has grown significantly. About 63.51 crore domestic tourists visited Telangana from 2014 to July 2022 and 13,50,307 foreign tourists during the same period visited the tourist areas in Telangana, officials said.
TSTDC, a state government undertaking, has created 54 green tourism hotels and wayside facilities across the state. Sound and light shows are also being organised at Golconda and Warangal forts.
Telangana’s tourism sector has been booming and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is giving priority to the development of this sector with the ambition of “Our Telangana – Our Culture – Our Tourism”, the officials added.
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