Goal is to transform rural areas into tourism hubs: A.P. Tourism Minister

Tourism should not beryllium constricted to a fewer prime places, but agrarian areas, too, should beryllium transformed arsenic tourism hubs, said Minister for Minister for Tourism, Culture and Cinematography Kandula Durgesh connected Sunday (February 8), adding that the State authorities volition enactment towards this goal.

In a property statement, helium noted that ‘Volunteer Yatra’, a run undertaken by the Tourism Department successful collaboration with a New-Delhi based organisation to beforehand tourer attractions and agrarian civilization and heritage, has yielded affirmative results.

The campaign, supervised by Special Chief Secretary Ajay Jain and A.P. Tourism Development Corporation Managing Director Amrapali Kata, was not constricted to commercialized advertisements, but societal media influencers were roped successful to beforehand the taste and tourer attraction of a spot done on-the-ground experiences.

According to the property note, the run was conducted successful 2 phases. In the first, 11 societal media influencers with follower basal betwixt 3 lakh and 6 lakh were called from Delhi, Rajasthan, Assam, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana to circuit Visakhapatnam, Araku Valley and Lambasingi for a week betwixt December 13 and 20, 2025.

The influencers produced 80-100 high-quality videos, drone shots and cinematic question films, each of which person grabbed the attraction of much than 4 cardinal viewers.

In the 2nd signifier betwixt January 3 and 17, 2026, influencers from Ayodhya, Kolkata, Mumbai and Odisha were invited to acquisition the Sankranti celebrations successful Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema district. They got to spot Bhogi bonfires, Prabhalu procession and section customs first-hand, which were changeable and shared with the viewers

Around 30 reels and videos, which captured the quality of Antarvedi, Rajamahendravaram and Atrayepuram, and showed the grandeur of the Sankranti festivities, garnered 5 cardinal views, according to the property note.

Thanks to the campaign, implicit 1,000 booking inquiries person been made successful the past 1 period alone, said the property note. Following the occurrence of the initiative, the Tourism Department is readying to collaborate with ‘Volunteer Yatra’ for the improvement of ‘Art Villages’ and enlargement of homestays successful the State.

The videos, totalling 110, filmed by societal media influencers person reached implicit 9 cardinal radical successful the country, and buoyed by this, the Minister said much places would beryllium promoted successful a akin mode successful the coming days.