A new State Tourism and Culture Policy will be announced soon. The Department of Tourism and Culture have already prepared the draft and sent to various departments concerned for their approval. The Chief Minister K Rosaiah today decided that a meeting of all these departments will be convened soon and the policy will be finalised at the earliest. The present policy under implementation pertains to 1998 and there was a need for revision due to time gap and prudent fiscal management.

The Chief Minister today held a detailed review of the projects and issues concerning the tourism department, APTDC, Shilparamam, Department of Culture and National Institute of Tourism and Hospitality Management with minister & officials.

It was also decided to establish two more Shilparamams at Sangareddy (Medak) and another in Khammam district (at Khammam or Bhadrachalam). The Chief Minister also agreed to name the Shilpa Sandhya Vedika (Night Bazaar) at Shilparamam, Hyderabad as YSR Shilpa Sandhya Vedika. It was the brainchild of the former Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy. This is under construction and expected to be in operation from March 2010. This will be a night bazaar with shopping malls and food courts and will be open till 3 am. The meeting also decided to promote medical tourism, film tourism, convention tourism and heli tourism in the State by developing all tourist spots and infrastructure facilities. There is also a proposal to develop a Brindavan-type garden at Nizamsagar.

The Chief Minister will also write to the Government of India on the starting of Southern Splendour. The Tourism Department will also be given more police force to start the 'Tourism Police' in all the important tourism spots. Water bodies at Jalayagnam will also be developed as tourist spots in all the important projects. The Chief Minister also okayed the establishment of a Parking Plaza cum-Budget Hotel at Shilparamam in Hyderabad in two acres to overcome the acute parking shortage.

The Chief Minister was also informed that while India received 0.527 million domestic tourists arrivals and 5.08 million International tourists, Andhra Pradesh received 0.127 domestic tourists and 0.76 million international tourists. Tourism provides 10% of the overall employment. Andhra Pradesh has the 1st position in the domestic tourism, but fell back in the international tourist arrivals. There was good growth of tourism in Tirupati and Vizag and moderate growth in Hyderabad. The Chief Minister felt that since tourism provides large-scale employment there is every need to encourage it.

Minister for Tourism and Culture, Geeta Reddy, Chief Secretary, S V Prasad, Secretary, Tourism, Jayesh Ranjan, Director, Cultural Affairs, B Venkatesam, Chairman, APTDC, Swaranjit Sen, Special Officer, Shilparamam, G Janardhan Reddy and other officials attended the meeting.