In its bid to offer defining niche products to shore up tourists footfall, the youngest state in India Telengana has now stumbled upon the idea of making its regional film industry (popularly known as Tollywood) a draw. Now film buffs coming to the state will have the opportunity to visit film studios and watch the film making process or even meet their popular stars of Telugu cinema on the sets under a comprehensive tourism package. In a recent exclusive conversation with TourismFirst, B Venkatesham, Tourism & Culture Secretary of Telengana confirmed that preliminary preparations have been made for introducing this new segment.
“ Tollywood is probably the largest regional film industry in the country and we have some of the defining studios in the state. The Ramoji Rao studio is one of the largest film studio in the world and we felt that if we also allow tourists to visit film locations and get a first-hand experience of watching the shooting process, it would be quite an experience for them. It will be offered to them as part of a package,” Venkatesham said. The package will be called Tollywood Tourism and according to Venkatesham it will become a reality in next couple of weeks. “ We are the youngest state in the country and are fairly committed to give a defining edge to our tourism offerings by way of scores of niche products. Tollywood tourism is a step in that direction,” he added.
Meanwhile, Telangana is all set to declare 2016-17 as “Visit Telangana” year. “ We are working on it and a formal announcement will be made soon. It will comprise a series of yearlong events wherein we will very aggressively promote our tourism offerings,” he said.
