SRINAGAR: A Joint Tourism Forum of 8 Tourism Trade Bodies comprising of TASK, JKTA, J&K PILTOF, TTIG, DTOAK & Chapters of TAAI, IATO & ADTOI met the Secretary Tourism, Sarmad Hafeez today and apprised him about the present Tourism Scenario.
The Spokesperson of the forum in the first instant complimented the Tourism Secretary for taking all initiatives in promoting Domestic Tourism, which caters to 98% of the stakeholders, be it Hoteliers, Houseboat Owners, Tour Operators, Taxi Operators, Shikara Wala, Pony Wallas, ATV Riders etc besides PSU, JKTDC & JKCCC.
The forum apprised the Tourism Secretary that promotional activities have to continue for the next 2/3 months by way of participating in Trade Fairs, Road Shows, besides Social Media, CRM and Print & Electronic Media. The Forum suggested the Tourism secretary that UT Government should implement the proposal submitted thru Deptt of Tourism for releasing long term Incentives & Compensations due to business losses, besides covering all units under Insurance scheme for business losses due to any Force Maejure.
The secretary Tourism was also advised to implement the MDA Scheme recently launched by Ministry of Tourism, Govtt of India for Travel Trade to participate in various Trade Fairs / Marts etc. He was also requested to hire a professional Marketing Team for giving vide publicity to J&K Tourism, besides a good professional Event Management Company to be hired, where in all the local activities in Jammu & Kashmir such as various Local Food or Cultural Festivals, Snow Skiing festivals in Gulmarg, Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter Festivals in Pahalgam and celebration of various other activities be outsourced to a top level professional without compromising with the quality as this will less burden the officials of the Tourism Deptt Secretary Tourism heard all our points and gave a patient hearing and assured that these will be implemented in letter & spirit in the shortest possible time. He also appreciated the members of Forum for being in the frontline in bringing Tourists to Kashmir, both National & Interational since last 5 decades.

KR Desk