Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday directed the tourism department to examine the possibility of setting up a travel and tourism university in the state.

At a review meeting with officials at the CM Camp office, the Chief Minister asked them to model it on the lines of New Zealand's travel and tourism university.

Naidu proposed that courses like tourism, health, cooking, transport, skill development and training for guides and hospitality services could be introduced in the University. He added that a culture of treating tourists as guests should be propagated.

He also directed officials to prepare a blueprint for setting up massive convention centres at Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati.

These convention centres, Naidu said, should be constructed in a way where weddings, expos, seminars, cultural/entertainment events, with a capacity of 10,000 people, could be held. He suggested that these convention centres could be built in 100 acres of land and National Academy for Construction (NAC) too be set up in the premises.

These projects will be taken up in the Public-private partnership model, he was quoted as saying in an official statement issued by his office.

The Chief Minister said a task force would be constituted with state government, central government officers and private stakeholders. To oversee the task force's work, an apex committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister will be set up.

The task force will tour different countries and various tourist destinations to adopt the best practices and submit a report to the chief minister, the statement said. Special secretary (tourism & culture) Chandana Khan, Secretary to CM Sai Prasad, APTDC VC and MD K S Reddy, Commissioner of Tourism Sunil Kumar Gupta and others were present at the meeting.

- PTI