Vizag has nothing to boast of seafood

Visakhapatnam: With top priority being given to exports, the tourists from Odisha and West Bengal and locals are not getting good seafood in the City of Destination. Though lion’s share of the seafood being exported from Visakhapatnam Fishing Harbour, the locals and a big number of tourists are left with not much seafood on the plate.

The seafood lovers are not expressing much dissent during their joy trips to the city. However, a few hotels have been serving seafood. According to the statistics, 60 tonnes of seafood is being consumed per day in the city, but there are no much premium varieties like silver pomfret, seer fish and tiger prawn.

During the 34th convention of the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), the members opined that due to the lack of the authentic seafood cuisines in the city, the seafood lovers are returning with disappointment. In fact, the other shore-based cities and towns have multiple exclusive seafood restaurants and kiosks serving plenty of mouthwatering seafood dishes for lunch, dinner and even for snack time as well. However, the AP Tourism Department is not looking at the much-potential market, the IATO opined.

According to Chairman of IATO, K Ranga Reddy said culinary tourism has been considered as the vital component of the tourism experience. “For any tourism promotion at any place, food plays a vital role. Hotels and restaurants in Vizag city serve seafood, but there are not many which have specialization in seafood spread. This is what is required.  

The IATO had suggested the tourism department to promote exclusive seafood restaurants on the beach front to attract the tourists,” said Ranga Reddy. Compared to coastal cities and towns in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Goa, there are no varieties of seafood dishes in Vizag.

Though Vizag city is tipped as the best tourism destination in Andhra Pradesh, the city has no local flavour or dish that can be tagged along as a home-grown delicacy, K Siva Kumar, a tourist opined. Many multi-cuisine restaurants in Vizag have serving seafood specials, but there are no special items, the IATO opined.