Hyderabad is best for international conferences: CM

Hyderabad, April 12 : Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Friday said Hyderabad is the best city to hold international conferences.

The Chief Minister recalled that one of the biggest international conferences like the Bio-diversity conference was successfully held in the city and won encomiums from all over the world. He said the COP-11 was attended by 9,000 delegates from 174 countries and Heads of State from 20 countries attended the conference for 19 days here and were appreciative of the facilities here.

Kiran Kumar Reddy was speaking at the UNWTO Conference on Sustainable Tourism and Joint Meetings of UNWTO Commissions for South Asia, East Asia and Pacific in city today. He said World Allergy Conference was held here which was attended by 4,000 doctors. He said the World Agricultural Conference will also be held here in October this year. He said Hyderabad will be the venue for many more national and international conferences. The Chief Minister said, however, we have to further develop infrastructure facilities in the city in tune with the global standards and we shall do it. He said the State Government is also trying to increase infrastructure facilities in other cities like Warangal, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati etc. The Chief Minister said the delegates enjoy their stay in city and walk into places like KBR Park which is about 300 acres to have a wonderful experience.

The Chief Minister expressed happiness that so many tourism professionals descending in Hyderabad to attend this important conference of UNWTO. He said our relations with UNWTO go back to a decade where we hosted a similar meeting in year 2004. Andhra Pradesh has also benefited from the Technical missions and studies conducted by UNWTO in the past. United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has identified Tourism as a sector with great potential to reduce poverty and increase employment, particularly in the rural areas. Tourism is also identified as a sector that creates more number of jobs per million of investment (78 jobs per million, as against 45 in Agriculture and 18 in industry).

Andhra Pradesh continues to be the leading State in terms of Domestic Tourist arrivals. He said 153 Million (18 per cent) Domestic Tourists and 0.26 Million (4.12 per cent) international tourists visited Andhra Pradesh in year 2011.

The Government of Andhra Pradesh is committed to develop tourism in the State as a prime growth engine to secure economic development and equitable growth. He said the State Government realised and appreciated the fact that one of the major spin off of development in the tourism sector is employment generation.

The Chief Minister hoped the discussion and deliberations of this conference will have a valuable impact and provide new impetus to the Development of Tourism to the State and Country. He welcomed the delegates to the Heritage City of Hyderabad, famous for the Nizami Culture, Heritage and world famous Hyderabadi Birayani which you are going to relish here. Union Minister of State for Tourism K Chiranjivi, State Tourism Minister Vatti Vasantha Kumar and others also spoke. INN