VIZAG matters - Sohan Hatangadi's Blog

This should be a good time for our head-in- the-clouds tourism officials to get Back to Basics. Let us learn from the recent HOT AIR BALLOON FESTIVAL at Araku. Rs. 5,00,00,000 spent on damp squib balloon festival. Who benefited? A few reporters, some officials, the event organizers and their friends and family and a few of those who sucked up to appropriate persons in the political hierarchy in Vijayawada. We did not even sell Vizag to the foreign balloon crew. They had no idea about what Vizag or Araku was all about. What about tourists? We got perhaps less than a hundred real extra tourists on one day at ARAKU! So what was the cost of acquisition per tourist? You work it out! Remember the tamasha about Heli-Tourism? There was so much hullabaloo about it, lots of our money spent but within a month it has gone phut! Buddhist tourism all talk no action With fanfare and trumpetry two "interpretation centers" were built at Thotlakonda and Bavikonda a...

This marketing effort would be termed "excellent" if it was done by the coffee board. But for tourism it is totally irrelevant and a waste of money. That is because Araku is already bursting at the seams with low to medium spending tourists. The roads are crowded, chaotic and  filthy. Mountains of organic and plastic  garbage are strewn everywhere. Lines of squatting children do their job on the road sides. So much for ODF! There are no public toilets and what little is available is sub Saharan standards. In the roads surrounding Araku we come across heaps of Plaster of Paris and plastic sheeting removed from some old film set. Thermocole packing material and styrofoam plates lie in the fields everywhere. In the absence of any organised solid waste management every hotel and lodge takes their garbage across the road and chucks it into the bushes. Other than the APTDC property all lodges have poor standards. The RTC bus stand is one of the worst anywhere with ha...

14 to 16 November 2017 As a tourist event this was most ineffective. Visitors to the event were mainly Vizagites with a few from surrounding districts and Hyderabad. Pretty pictures but that's it It will be argued that the images of the colourful balloons floating over pristine green meadows inserted into emedia and airline magazines will give Araku a great boost. True, but when the tourists come where will the stay? Where will they go? What will they do? Already hordes of tourists from Bengal and other states come in the colder months stressing the town to its limits. These are quantity tourists with low power capita expenditure and is the worst thing that can happen to this eco sensitive part of our Eastern Ghats. Araku is damaged goods it is hardly ready for any more tourists.  Did we sell our tourism to those who came? The organisers did not even take the opportunity to sell our destination to the foreign balloon crew. They had no clue of the social, heri...

Today a light drizzle stopped the hot air balloon in its track.  This morning's flying  event was cancelled due to inclement weather. This evening a display of the balloons tethered (tied to the ground) and lit up will be displayed at NTR grounds.  Visitors to the event were mainly Vizagites. It will be interesting to know how many real "tourists" came to the venue. I am not talking about the event organizers and the 15-20 foreigner balloonists. I am talking about  genuine domestic or international  tourists. Then divide the expenditure by the incremental number of tourists who visited and we will get a huge per tourist expenditure.  The figure for expenditure is being mentioned as 5 crores. Say we got around 100 tourists that too is a generous figure. We will end up with something like 7L per tourist! Sounds awesome doesn't it? Incidentally this is all public money. That means your money and mine. Cheers. Don't just read this ... share it...

A version of this article also appeared in the Times of India, Vizag Edition, today Nov 18, "Forget tourists, develop city for its own people". ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Over the last several months I have been travelling out of Vizag often. Each time I return I am glad to be back. Not only because I am coming home to family and friends but because I come home to Vizag; my stunningly beautiful city.    It is natural that the residents of the city to be proud of Vizag. And from this pride comes the tendency to show off the city to others. That is why we Vizagite say “We should develop Vizag into a tourist spot”. The rationale for wanting tourists is that: tourism brings in visitors who spend gobs of money here and generate employment that makes Vizagites rich . Notice how a subliminal pride of the city is rationalized into what appears to be a good reason. But what is the truth about tourism? ...

Who killed the Bora caves?     The buzz over Bora Over the last few days there is quite a buzz about promoting even more tourism in and around Bora and Araku. This news is scary. Why? You ask. Well, a visit to Bora Caves illustrates the huge adverse impact of tourism on the area. Gone in a blink In the early 1970’s I have visited the caves, long before it was made into a “picnic spot” and spent time admiring its imposing beauty.  Now, this important and sensitive geological formation has been made into an amusement park, with visitors clambering all over the formations and thousands carving their graffiti on the cave walls.  Guides The freelance tribal guides do not bother about the vandalism. They  are poorly trained and mope around, completely demoralized by their APTDC bosses.  Gone in a flash What took millions of years to form has been destroyed in a mere 10 years ... a blink in geological time. Formations, what f...

Tourism for Vizag   “This city is so beautiful” the wise men said "The news of its charms, we must spread" The IAS boss of the town announced “someday… Vizag will be just like Mumbai” We must get the crowds here they declared For this a tourist hub must be prepared So they held a big tourist fair And officials came from everywhere "Infrastructure is required!" they stated And a very pretty picture they painted Businessmen licking their lips Looked forward to tourists in planes, trains and ships The leaders of Industry, And Vizag’s upper gentry, The rich and the famous Talked of structures quite wondrous "This CRZ laws must go" they thundered "Our environmentalists have all blundered" We need more beach resorts in our city And let's get rid of the damn fishing community The air travellers association Sold the benefits of increased av...

--> "Erra matti dibbalu” Red Sand Dunes, Bhimunipatnam Tourism - at what cost? Sohan Hatangadi Date: March 13, 2009 There have been reports that Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) plans to put up a tourist facilit y at "Erra matti dibbalu" (“Red Sand Hills”) near Bhimunipatnam. The reports have caused concern among certain sections of the public as well as those from the scientific community. This site is the last remaining area having the unique red sand dune formations which are such a rarity. It is felt that establishing a tourism facility there will deeply impact the pristine nature of the area and seal the fate of this fragile ecological wonder. Where are the "Erra matti dibbalu “and what is unique about them? On the Bay of Bengal coast, to the south of the Bhimunipatnam ridge, is an area comprising deeply gullied red sand dunes of around 4 km length and 2 km width. It is bounded by streams “Chittigadda” in...