VIJAYAWADA: The officials of tourism and other departments are leaving no stone unturned to make the ‘World Tourism Day’ celebrations in the city a grand success to woo tourists from other states and countries to the ‘Sun Rise’ State of Andhra Pradesh. Chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu will inaugurate the celebrations at Haritha Berm Park on the banks of River Krishna, near the Kanaka Durga Temple, on the evening of Sept 27.
Though the officials wanted to organise the celebrations at Vizag, the CM had evinced interest in organising the same in Vijayawada city as well, which falls under the capital region and has great tourism potential.
In order to promote tourism in the region, the officials have come up with a new idea - organising the ‘Nadi Harati’ to the River Krishna on the lines of Nadi Harati being performed to the River Ganga.
“We are planning to introduce ‘Nadi Harati’ programme for the first time to highlight River Krishna,” said Krishna district collector M Raghunandan Rao.
As a part of these four-day celebrations, the Tourism Department is going to organise events like shopping festival, food festival, water sports and cultural programmes. The shopping festival will display the arts and crafts of Andhra Pradesh and India. The ethnic food varieties of the state shall be the main feature of the food festival. Folk dances, classical dance Kuchipudi and other dance forms of the state will be performed during the cultural festival.
Special officer, Shilparamam, APTDC, GN Rao said, “Krishna and Guntur districts are located on either side of river Krishna have a great history and there are several archeological sites which can be be tapped for their great tourism potential.”
APTDC executive director (projects) Amarendra Kumar said that the Union government has, in principle, agreed to allot `50 crore for the development of Kuchipudi, Movva, Srikakulam, Pedana, Hamsala Deevi, Manginapudi Beach and others under tourism circuit.