Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu instructed officials to prepare plans for the development of proposed new capital on the banks of river Krishna as an important tourist destination in the world like Istanbul. Last week he was in ancient city and studied the Turkish city’s dramatic growth in tourism which surpassed many world leaders such as New York, Singapore, Dubai etc.
Upon arrival from Istanbul, Naidu convened a meeting of the advisory committee that is looking after the construction of Amaravathi. The Chief Minister seems to have greatly impressed by the phenomenal growth of tourism there. Naidu, who wants to build a capital for Andhra Pradesh that would be globally attractive for tourists and investors equally. In the meeting Naidu said he wants river front Amaravati to resemble Istanbul, which is separated by Bosphorus strait in to Asian and European parts.
“Recalling his recent visit to Istanbul, the Chief Minister lauded the Turkey government’s efforts in utilizing advanced technology to develop the city as a modern one in just seven years. He added that Istanbul, with a population of 2 crore, is emerging as the fastest growing city in the world,” Chief Minister’s Office said in a press note.
Naidu is modelling the city borrowing several features from various modern cities like Tokyo, and Singapore in East. Now, he is looking westward. He seems to have found that Istanbul’s tourism is best in the world. Just see at the growth of the Istanbul which is faster than Paris. In terms of international tourists,Istanbul has outpaced New York and Singapore to become fifth most visited city in the world. The city’s projected visitor in 2015 are 12.56 million.
Growth-wise, the city reported strongest growth at 11.4 percent, catapulting from its seventh position previous year to fifth by international overnight visitors. Both Bangkok and Dubai are trailing at 8 per cent, of course second after Istanbul. Istanbul, where one could see both ancient and modern cultures eo-exist, was built by Greeks as Byzantium in 700 BC. A key hub on Silk Road then, Istanbul benefited from its geographical location also. This is exactly how Andhra Pradesh chief minister wants to re-position Amaravati in world trade map.
Naidu’s objective is to make Andhra Pradesh with its 900 km-long coastline, the global hub in sea and air routes and also make it a meeting point of East and West technological development.
