Hyderabad: In a bid to develop budget hotels in all district headquarters in Telangana, the state government is considering the introduction of boating facilities at lakes in order to attract more tourists.

A letter from the Telangana State Tourism Development Corporation (TSTDC) has gone to the district collector’s office seeking land for the proposed budget hotels to provide affordable accommodation to tourists, its managing director B Manohar said.

TSTDC currently offers accommodation with its Haritha chain of hotels and resorts in four districts. Manohar further iterated that there were plans to introduce boating facilities at the reservoirs and lakes in order to develop adventure and water sports.

“We are also planning to start cruise service in reservoirs besides developing other facilities near river beds," he said.

The state government also proposes development of areas close to the prestigious Kaleswaram irrigation project in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district, which was inaugurated last week, into a tourist destination, he said.

Since its formation in June 2014, Telangana has been witnessing an increase in the number of tourists, both foreign and domestic, visiting the state.

According to official figures, as many as 9.28 crore tourists from across the country visited Telangana in 2018 compared to 8.52 crore in the previous calendar year.

The domestic tourist footfall was 7.23 crore in 2014. Over 3.18 lakh international tourists visited Telangana in 2018, as against 75,171 in 2014.

The decision comes just after weavers in Telangana alleged that the state government had turned a blind eye towards their welfare. Weavers from the state claimed that as many 350 weavers have committed suicide so far.

The weavers were desperate for a resolution and decided to stage a protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.

Dasu Suresh, chairman of Weavers United JAC said, “The government had announced Rs 273 crore budget for two years for the development of Telangana's weavers but not even a quarter of the amount has been spent by them so far.”