The Role of Andhra Pradesh Cuisine in Promoting Culinary Tourism: Opportunities and Challenges
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This research paper examines the role of Andhra Pradesh cuisine in promoting culinary tourism and evaluates the opportunities, institutional support, and constraints associated with transforming the state's food heritage into a stronger tourism product.The study adopts a mixed-data research design, combining a primary survey of 193 respondents with secondary data covering the period 2020-2025.Secondary data were obtained from the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Andhra Pradesh district-wise tourism footfall records, and relevant sectoral sources on GI-tagged food products, agricultural crops, and culinary events.The data were analyzed using percentage analysis, weighted mean, standard deviation, one-sample t-tests, annual growth rates, compound annual growth rate (CAGR), index numbers, Pearson correlation, and tourist-footfall concentration measures.The primary results show strong agreement that Andhra cuisine is an important attraction (mean=4.01), that regional dishes enrich the visitor experience (mean=4.04),and that food festivals encourage destination visits (mean=4.02).Respondents also support stronger cuisine promotion by Andhra Pradesh Tourism (mean=3.91) and experiential products such as food trails, cooking demonstrations and farm visits (mean=3.81).Secondary analysis shows a strong recovery and expansion of domestic tourism: visits increased from 70.83 million in 2020 to 333.83 million in 2025, implying a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of about 36.35%.The 2024 district data indicate sizeable tourist markets in Tirupati, NTR, Guntur, Visakhapatnam and other districts, while foreign visits are highly concentrated.The paper concludes that Andhra Pradesh has a credible basis for culinary tourism through its regional cuisines, GI foods, pilgrimagelinked gastronomy, seafood, chilli, mango and Araku coffee, but requires integrated branding, quality assurance, food storytelling, market intelligence and district-level culinary circuits to convert high tourist volume into greater local food expenditure and destination differentiation.
Authors: Dr.K.Rajesh Dr.K.Rajesh, K.Divya K.Divya
Institution: Acharya Nagarjuna University
Language: English
Topic: Culinary Culture and Tourism
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7212370133