Telangana unveils Tourism policy, eyes Rs 15,000 crore investments, 3 lakh jobs in 5 years

The first-ever dedicated tourism policy, after the formation of Telangana, also aims to create additional employment opportunities for three lakh people in the next five years besides enhancing tourism contribution to 10% or higher of the GSDP (gross state domestic product).

Hyderabad: Seeking to attract investments worth Rs 15,000 crore and position Telangana among top five states in domestic and international tourist arrivals, the state government on Tuesday tabled “Telangana Tourism Policy 2025-2030” in the Assembly.

The first-ever dedicated tourism policy, after the formation of Telangana, also aims to create additional employment opportunities for three lakh people in the next five years besides enhancing tourism contribution to 10 per cent or higher of the GSDP (gross state domestic product).

The tourism infrastructure sector is predominantly driven by the private sector and there is a pressing need for the government to provide greater confidence through proactive policy and administrative framework that improves investor confidence, it said.

Through the policy, the state government will be promoting “safe tourism” by creating dedicated tourist police units/tourist patrols across key tourist destinations, implementing women-friendly measures to ensure the safety of female tourists, and leverage Tourism Friendly Index (TFI) to evaluate the safety standards of destinations.

Additionally, CCTV surveillance at all tourist destinations will foster a safer and more welcoming environment for tourists, it said.

Among others, the tourism policy also would focus on creating world-class shopping experiences around the proposed Regional Ring Road (RRR) such as specialised malls for wedding shopping, gold souks (markets), household goods, and furniture and organise a year-round calendar of shopping festivals.

Net State GST will be reimbursed to the investors based on the investment size and location of the project/site, it said.

Telangana recorded 60.75 million domestic tourist arrivals and 68,400 foreign tourist arrivals in the year 2022, (as per the Ministry of Tourism data) and the state's share in domestic tourist arrivals has declined to 3.51 per cent of the total national arrivals, placing it in 9th position among other states, it said.