The Telangana government is planning to set up a university for hospitality and tourism management at Hyderabad, tourism and culture minister Azmeera Chandulal has said.
Speaking at the inauguration of a national conference on ‘Strategic Development Opportunities in Tourism and Hospitality Industry’ here on Monday, he said, “State Planning Board vice-chairman S.Niranjan Reddy has placed a proposal before us for establishment of a tourism university. We are going to look into the matter and there are very high chances that the university will be established in the near future.” Chandulal alleged that the heritage of Telangana had been neglected in the combined state and accused the then governments of not spending enough money for the development of Telangana.
“When Telangana was part of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, the then governments neither allowed the culture of Telangana to flourish nor invested money to develop the region. Now, we will ensure that Telangana culture and tradition is promoted and it gets its due credit,” he said.
“We have many places in Telangana, which speaks a lot about the culture of the state. Be it, historic Jain and Buddhist monuments or scenic beauty around Krishna and Godavari rivers. We are going to develop these places as tourist attractions and promote our heritage.”
The minister said the government was taking measures to create employment in the tourism sector. Tourism centres will be set up in all the 10 districts of the state. Earlier in the day, Niranjan Reddy said he would take the initiative for setting up a university exclusively for tourism and hospitality services in Hyderabad. “Tourism and hospitality are among the sectors which are attracting direct foreign investments. With the rise in the number of global tourists and realising India’s potential, many companies are willing to invest in tourism and hospitality,” he said.
The state government also realised the potential of the tourism industry and took several steps to make Telangana a global tourism hub and with the support of the government, I am going to strive for the setting up of a tourism university in the city,” the state planning board chairman said.
Source: The New Indian Express