From 9 To 18: What A Fall AP!

The state of Andhra Pradesh was placed at 18th spot in the Best Performing States under tourism category for the year 2021 and this is a serious setback for the YCP government. What’s to be noted here is that AP was at 9th place in 2018 during the TDP regime and over the next three years, AP’s ranking kept dropping.

In 2019, AP’s tourism ranking slipped to 12th place and in 2020, it was 17th and dropping another rank, AP stood at 18th in the year 2021. The state of Telangana showed a similar trend as well. Telangana was in a better position than AP in 2018. From 5th place in 2018 to 14th place in 2021, Telangana’s tourism failed to attract visitors.

Meanwhile God’s own country i.e, Kerala continued its dominance in tourism. Kerala never slipped below third position in tourism but PM Narendra Modi’s home state Gujarat reported a big jump. Gujarat was at 13th spot in 2018 and now it stands at second place.

Ironically, the rest of the south Indian states did not find a place in the top 10. After Kerala, Tamil Nadu is the best state at 12th place and Karnataka stood 16th. Andhra Pradesh has the lowest ranking compared to all the states from the south region.

AP has a mixed culture. The UttarAndhra region has ample scope for tourism. Previous TDP government brought many initiatives in its calibre to UttarAndhra region but the successive government failed to carry forward.

On the other hand, AP’s best city and the beautiful Vizag has become a scapegoat for political tussle. Roja, who took over the tourism ministry in April, really needs to do a lot of work. Instead she is confined to political verbal war against opposition.