The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Visakhapatnam News : APTDC gearing up for peak season

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Friday, Sep 12, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

APTDC gearing up for peak season

Nivedita Ganguly

Work on projects expected to be completed by the Dasara festival

Rushikonda is favourite destination
The 65-room Mayuri Hill Resort is APTDC’s latest venture at Araku

Photo: K.R. Deepak

One with nature: A view of the renovated Crafts Village Cottages of the APTDC in Araku Valley. —

VISAKHAPATNAM: With the peak tourist season fast approaching, various projects of Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation have moved into top gear and are nearing completion. At APTDC’s Yatri Nivas in Vizag, additional three AC rooms and two AC suites are coming up shortly. The existing 13 rooms in the resort are being upgraded into AC rooms and lift facility will also be added.

Renovation spree

Rushikonda remained one of the favourite destinations of the tourists last season. “The occupancy rate at Rushikonda was 58 per cent between April and June this year as compared to last year’s record of 34 per cent,” APTDC Divisional Manager P. Jeevan Prasad told T he Hindu. The corporation is also renovating the existing 33 cottages at Rushikonda at the cost of Rs.1 crore. The work is expected to get over before Dasara when the tourist inflow is at its peak.

The tourist movement in Araku has been phenomenal last season, i.e. from April to July, with Borra Caves receiving 1,38,760 visitors as compared to last year’s figure of 1,25,460. In view of the rising tourist inflow, APTDC has initiated several projects at Araku Valley. The Mayuri Hill Resort at Araku is one of its latest ventures. The 65-room capacity hill resort has a multi-cuisine restaurant and a bar. Among the other projects, additional budget accommodations and luxury cottages have been developed at APTDC’s Hill Resorts at Anantagiri that offer an enchanting view of the clinging uniform patterns of greens of the valley. APTDC has also taken up a project to develop a road and other infrastructure facilities at the scenic Thatiguda Waterfalls at Anantagiri at the cost of Rs.57 lakhs.

Theme park

To offer added doses of fun and excitement for the tourists, the corporation has proposed to develop a theme park near the tribal museum at Araku.

The project will be taken up in a phased manner. In the initial phase six acres area has been earmarked for the development of various entertainment zones.

The theme park will have an amphitheatre, boating area, musical fountain plaza, walking pathways and children’s play area.

“The idea is to popularise the spot, enhance its tourism potential by providing wholesome entertainment for the entire family,” Mr. Jeevan Prasad said.

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