TravTalk India Online Magazine
A special meeting between GMR Hyderabad International Airport and FTCCI’s Tourism Committee discusses tourism opportunities in Telangana region, ahead of the Hyderabad Aviation Summit 2022, planned next month.
Nisha Verma
In a brainstorming session, Tourism Committee of Federation of Telangana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FTCCI) and GMR Hyderabad International Airport mulled over ‘Roadmap for Building a Stronger Tourism Product’ with an idea to make Hyderabad, Telangana State and nearby region as a tourism hub. At the meeting, senior GMR Hyderabad officials, headed by their CEO, Pradeep Panicker, shared their views on the way forward. This meeting was the precursor to the Hyderabad Aviation Summit 2022, planned in April.
“Inbound tourism has huge economic multiplier impact on the city and the state GDP. We are happy to work closely with stakeholders such as FTCCI Tourism Committee and make the State of Telangana and its capital
Hyderabad a tourism destination of choice in the region. Some of the sites in the region are even more beautiful than famous international tourist sites. We just need to promote these places well,” Panicker said at the meeting.
“In order to turn this region into a tourism hub, we need to curate the sites based on specific themes and experiences and support them with world class infrastructure, hygienic facilities, hotels, skilled tourism ecosystem workforce, which can act as brand ambassador for the region and promote these tourism sites aggressively across India and globally,” he added.
Ashish Kumar, Chief Commercial Officer, GMR Hyderabad, also shared his insights at the meeting. A 15-member team of the Tourism Committee of FTCCI, led by the committee Chairman Valmiki Hari Kishan, also
shared its views during the brainstorming session.
Earlier, to showcase the State of Telangana, FTCCI’s Tourism Committee successfully organised a three-day Telangana Tourism Conclave in 2018, for which they hosted 1200 tourism stakeholders from pan India.
Among many points that were highlighted during the meeting included the huge potential that the region in and around Hyderabad had for inbound and domestic tourists. It was unanimously agreed that the potential largely remained untapped for a long time. Apart from the famous monuments like Charminar, Qutb Shahi Tombs, there are places in the region that remain unexplored, such as Ramappa Temple — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — Thousand Pillar Temple, Mallikarjuna Temple (also known as Srisailam Temple), Gandikota Liamtra (known as Grand Canyon of India), Pochampally village, which was recently awarded ‘Best World Tourism Village’ by the UNWTO (United Nation World Tourism Organisation). Moreover, with new entrant such as The Statue of Equality, Yadagirigutta Temple and Buddhavanam at Nagarjunasagar, it was the right time to market and promote the tourism in the region. Anuradha Reddy, Convenor, INTACH Telangana chapter, gave a brief presentation of how aviation started from Hyderabad and how it is shaping the future. The Tourism Committee delegation came out with many ideas to make Hyderabad a happening city with support from all stakeholders.
