Visakhapatnam also known as Vizag is growing in popularity as a beach resort destination in the domestic market, and has the potential to emerge as a popular destination internationally on the lines of Goa, say trade players.
Potential:
Vizag is being promoted in domestic markets aggressively, both by the trade and the government as a beach getaway. In the past, efforts have been directed towards international markets with the state being represented in key trade shows like ITB Berlin and ATM. Even the local trade bodies like Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) have actively engaged with tourism stakeholders and organized meets with top DMCs from New Delhi and Mumbai to showcase the destination.
Network of Indian MICE Agents (NIMA), one of country’s pioneer MICE associations organized its annual meet in Vizag in the past apart from associations like Association of Domestic Tour operators of India (ADTOI) and Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) organizing their annual convention in beach destination.
“Definitely, there has been an increase in the international tourist arrivals in Vizag. This trend is largely contributed by the efforts of tourism department of the state government through their infrastructural development along the coast line, beautification drive at the beach as well as along the beach road and important roads through the city. Creation of facilities for food, water sports, aero sports and amusement of children has also improved,” said Col S S Minhas, General Manager, Baypark – a Pema Wellness Resort.
The infrastructure of the destination in terms of hotels is very well positioned. There are theme based hotels, hotels for corporates and cluster of hotels providing large inventory. Vizag has good banquets and ocean view open air roof top venues are good attractions for all travellers across the segments including MICE and leisure.
“There has been an increase of 21 per cent in the international tourist arrivals in Vizag last year. The Andhra Pradesh tourism is also looking to promote water sports among international tourists. The formation of the new government also looks promising for the growth in the business of tourism. Vizag offers flavour of Goa with the deep rooted culture of South India to visitors,” said Rajesh Gopalakrishnan, General Manager, Novotel Visakhapatnam Varun Beach.
Even tour operators remain positive about the growth in tourism sector that the destination is currently witnessing. Rupali Nanda, Founder, Chalo Chale Adventures and Holiday shared that the last year witnessed a rise in number of tourists visiting Vizag from all over the country.
“There has been an initiative from the tourism department to promote Andhra Pradesh and Vizag as an alternative to Goa. Apart from the regular visitors from West Bengal and Odisha, we have seen a steep increase in destination wedding happening in Vizag from Chattisgarh, Telangana and different parts of India in this year,” added Nanda.
In fact a large section of tourism and hospitality stakeholders in Vizag have appreciated the various initiatives of the state tourism department to promote tourist arrivals in the destination.
“The year 2018 was extremely good in terms of demand from both inbound and domestic markets. Andhra Pradesh Tourism Authority (APTA) organized a Let’s Vizag campaign in the cities of Kolkata, New Delhi, Bhubaneswar, Chennai and Bangalore in the months of March-May 2018. This helped to open the market for tourist season October-December. After the Hudhud cyclone there was an element of doubt in the mind of tourists looking to visit Vizag. But the Let’s Vizag campaign reassured that the destination was as ready as always to welcome tourists,” said K. Vijay Mohan, Managing Director, Holiday World.
Hospitality Scenario:
Though the complied occupation data of all the hotels is not available but it is anticipated that the hospitality sector has recorded a growth of 20 – 25% in the just closed financial year. The Andhra Pradesh Air Travellers Association (APATA) reported 15% increase in air passenger traffic whereas 21% growth has been reported in aircraft movement.
“The surface transport, which is one of the indicators of domestic tourism, has recorded much higher increase. In the case of ‘Pema Wellness’, which is a comparatively newer unit, we recorded around 40% increase over our last year’s performance,” said Minhas.
“2018 was good for the hospitality sector of Vizag compared to previous years. Normally, we have witnessed a year-on-year growth of 25%. However, we recorded a growth of 30 per cent last year,” said Indukuri Rajababu Varma, Managing Director, Sun Ray Village Resort.
Private resorts in the city like Sun Ray Village Resort at Bhogapuram have developed a 9-hole golf course for tourists in the past. The property has transplanted 600 grown up coconut trees for shade at Vizag beach inventing Rs 50 Lakh. This cost will further go up to Rs. 1.30 crore for maintaining the trees for another 10 years.
MICE events have also helped to generate demand for hospitality players in the city. Some of the events that were organized in Vizag in 2018 included CII Partnership Summit, Tech 2018 and APMEDTECH. Also, the city hosted two international cricket matches and Pro Kabaddi league matches.
“However, the hotel industry last year went through some rough period, though there was a high tourist footfall. There were certain disruptions related to flights in the Visakhapatnam airport due to the restriction in the hours of operation from the defence, few government events cancellations and international events rescheduled to 2019,” said Gopalakrishnan. The average room rates (ARRs) recorded by hotels was around Rs. 6000 and average occupancy rate about 66% in 2018.
Convention Benefits:
Annual conventions of key Indian associations like IATO and ADTOI have been instrumental to create awareness about Vizag as a tourist destination. “The awareness about Vizag amongst the travel and tourism fraternity has increased manifolds. Translation of this effort into tourist footfall in Vizag has also shown definite positive indications which will only increase in the times to come. Another spinoff of the above efforts is the clear inputs to the government to enhance the connectivity, infrastructure and ancillary tourism facilities. Private entrepreneurs have seen the potential of business and hence the investments in the tourism related fields have already started,” informed Minhas.
“We have been a source in the grand success of these events as they have been hosted by us. This surely has got lot of eyeballs rolling towards the Vishakhapatnam and also Novotel that has eventually increased the tourism growth in the destination,” said Gopalakrishnan.
“Annual conventions of associations like IATO, ADTOI and ATOAI that were organized in Vizag have been very helpful for us. We have been able to educate the travel trade partners about our beautiful beach city, thanks to these events. We have also been able to generate business from trade partners,” said Varma.
Local travel trade associations too have played an important role in bringing events in the city. “Local bodies like Tours & Travel Association of Andhra (TTAA) have taken initiatives to bring in associations like NIMA to Vizag and showcase the destination. With their expertise in selling destinations, members of these associations have included Vizag in their hotlist,” said Nanda.
It all started in 2017 when the local hotels and travel agents hosted the NIMA convention. This paved way for other associations like ADTOI, IATO and ATOAI hosting their conventions in Vizag.
“NIMA and ADTOI members are contributing a lot of business to us. In fact members of ADTOI and NIMA gave us more than 30 groups over the last one year. Apart from that we had a lot of MICE and weddings that were brought here by these associations. We are expecting members of the IATO also to contribute in the coming months,” said Mohan.
International Arrivals:
Even though domestic tourism is a strong source of tourism in the destination, international tourist arrivals have been picking up. “International tourism in Vizag is definitely growing but numbers are low at present. We need to provide more facilities like beach side shacks and have private beach concepts that will help to attract more international tourists,” said Varma.
“Though the city has still not been overwhelmed by the foreign tourist, domestic tourism has definitely caught the fancy of the Indian travellers. Maybe, little more international publicity as also the opening up of the traditional and conservative mindset would encourage the foreign tourists to enjoy the coastline and the beautiful beaches little more. Safety facilities along the beaches and little more spread out accommodation would help foreign tourists to enjoy the virgin beaches of northern Vizag. Tweaking of CRZ (coastal regulation zone) would attract the foreign tourists to the destination,” added Minhas.
The tourism department of the state government had participated in the important trade shows like ITB, WTM, FITUR, JATA, MITT, ITB Asia and a few other international travel marts and the tag line India’s best kept secret – Andhra Pradesh drew attention among the international buyers.
“This year we were also part of the four member Indian delegation to Denmark. We had focused on the Buddhist circuits and we drew groups from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar. We have been trying to bring in charters from the Russian and CIS markets and we are very close to bringing them over this year or the next year. With direct flights from Malaysia and Thailand we are focusing on drawing weekend holiday crowd and we had a good number of tourists for our experiential tourism,” added Mohan.
Moving Ahead:
According to tourism and hospitality stakeholders, the new government can harvest much more revenues from the seeding efforts of the previous government in the field of tourism in Vizag. Trade is expectant that the tourism and hospitality segments will grow further in the coming years. As per insiders airlines are also looking to enhance the number flights to the destination.
“What needs to understood is that fraternising of beaches by foreign or domestic tourists as well as liberalisation of liquor licensing policy doesn’t necessarily mean infringement on to the local culture. Few tourist hubs near the safer portion of beaches need to be developed for swimming where accommodation, sports facility, family amusement facilities, restaurants, bars and transport can be concentrated with international safety, hygiene and sanitation standards,” said Minhas.
The paying guest facility has not really caught up along the picturesque beach road in Vizag. This development would give freedom to tourists with different affordability. The clearances and construction of international airport needs to be expedited through active government intervention.
“In recent past some of the private entrepreneurs have started limited helicopter, moto-glider, kayaking, jet-sky and go-karting activities. The government can encourage them through better regulation, taxation and licensing policy. Hovercraft operations and cruise services are also expected. These facilities would make Vizag an attractive tourist destination,” added Minhas.
The trade also feels that popularising Vizag on the lines of Kerala should be done through roadshows, exhibitions and awareness campaigns all over the world.
“We are expecting the completion of the Lulu Mall, government relaxing the shack liquor policy, introduction of theme park, street food corners and night markets among other tourist facilities will definitely boost tourism in the region,” said Nanda.
“Visakhapatnam is a cultural blend of South India and scenic beauty of Goa. It is a deep cultured city with all the beauty and fun that the travellers are looking for. It is well connected by road and railways. However, flight connectivity has a lot to improve especially from international destination and major metros of India,” said Gopalakrishnan.
“For getting the city resonating in the minds of the travellers, lot of coverage in the local magazines of other states and countries is required, along with travel writers and bloggers writing about Vishakhapatnam. If the city is promoted in right direction, it’s for sure people will find it as a hidden treasure. Moreover, public amenities for tourists require lot of attention like ease of toilets in the tourist spots and affordable commutation for the travellers,” concluded Gopalakrishnan.
Blurb:
“There has been an increase of 21 per cent in the international tourist arrivals in Vizag last year. The Andhra Pradesh tourism is also looking to promote water sports among international tourists. The formation of the new government also looks promising for the growth in the business of tourism.”
“The year 2018 was extremely good in terms of demand from both inbound and domestic markets. Andhra Pradesh Tourism Authority (APTA) organized a Let’s Vizag campaign in the cities of Kolkata, New Delhi, Bhubaneswar, Chennai and Bangalore in the months of March-May 2018.”
“NIMA and ADTOI members are contributing a lot of business to us. In fact members of ADTOI and NIMA gave us more than 30 groups over the last one year.”
“Vizag is well connected by road and railways. However, flight connectivity has a lot to improve especially from international destination and major metros of India.”