AP explores setting up tourism university

CM Naidu has proposed that courses like tourism, health, cooking, transport, skill development and training for guides and hospitality services could be introduced

Andhra Pradesh chief minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, has directed the state tourism department to examine the possibility of setting up a travel and tourism university on the lines of New Zealand’s travel and tourism university.

The chief minister proposed that courses like tourism, health, cooking, transport, skill development and training for guides and hospitality services could be introduced at the university. He wanted propagation of a culture of treating tourists as guests, according to an official press release on Tuesday.

Naidu was also stated to have asked officials to prepare a blueprint for setting up large convention centres, spread over 100 acres each, in Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati. These centres, with a capacity to accommodate 10,000 people, were sought to be taken up in the public-private partnership mode.

In this regard, the chief minister had decided to constitute a task force with officers of state and central governments and private stakeholders. To oversee the task force’s work, an apex committee under the chairmanship of the chief minister will be constituted. The task force will tour different countries and various tourist destinations to adopt the best practices and submit a report to the chief minister.