The AP Tourism Development Corporation has few reasons to cheer about with a dip in the number of people opting for its temple and leisure tourism packages in the year that just gone by.

Though the number of temple tourists was a little higher than the number of leisure tourists, the former has dropped due to the Telangana turmoil. The reasons for the drop in tourism may be many, but the 43-day-long Telangana Sakala Janula Samme certainly tops the list as per a report in Express News.

The state, which has a huge number of pilgrim tourist attractions including Tirumala, has been the leader in domestic tourism over the years but one needs to wait and watch if it will make it this year too.

Panchaaramalu, Bhadrachalam- Papikondalu river cruise and the Srisailam- Mahanandi circuit, along with Tirupati, continue to be the hot destinations for tourists.

Over 5,000 persons had undertaken pilgrim tourism during 2010-11 whereas only 2,228 availed the package in 2011-12 with 3 months still to go. In the same category, the tourism corporation had earned a revenue of Rs 1.21 crore from its temple packages in 2010-11 and just half — Rs 55.48 lakh— in the nine months so far during the current financial year.

This trend is reflected in the non-temple tourism as well. With 2,712 people availing the top leisure packages to Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam, Dindi and Araku-Annavaram in 2010-11, the APTDC earned a revenue of `71.37 lakh. In contrast, only 1,114 tourists have availed the same packages during April-December this year, giving the corporation a revenue of `36.52 lakh.

Thus, the difference between temple and leisure tourism packages of APTDC during 2010-11 was Rs 49.96 lkah in terms of revenue and 2,300 in terms of the number of tourists. With regard to the current financial year so far, the difference is Rs 18.95 lakh in terms of revenue and 1,114 in terms of the number of tourists.

But APTDC vice-chairman and managing director Sandeep Kumar Sultania is not unduly worried. APTDC is promoting tourism in a big way by creating massive infrastructure and facilities across the state, and tourism will definitely grow, he says with confidence.

The AP Tourism Development Corporation operates a wide range of wellequipped vehicles which include 63 Hi-Tech buses, 29 Volvo buses, eight airconditioned Hi-Tech coaches, four semi-sleepers, 11 mini vehicles, one vintage coach and 10 Qualis vans.

It runs deluxe resorts across the state. The APTDC packages include accommodation, food, travel and transport, says Balakrishna, a tourism official.