Varied tourism products, post Covid experiences, new initiatives captivate attention of travel reps, professionals
SRINAGAR: The three day long Outbound Travel Mart (OTM)-Mumbai, 2023 concluded last evening with J&K Tourism Pavillion attracts an overwhelming response from the visitors.
The J&K Tourism Department had participated in this year’s OTM in a big way as part of its extensive tourism promotional campaign being held across major cities of the country. 112 Co-exhibitors and participants from Jammu & Kashmir attended the travel extravaganza drawing thousands of tourists, holidaymakers, travel trade buyers and tour organizing professionals to the J&K pavilion.
The Jammu and Kashmir Pavilion set up by the Tourism Department offered the most-engaging experiences for the travel consumers and trade visitors as well as the co participants from various States and UTs besides international delegates.
Hundreds of travel trade fraternity members from Mumbai, Pune, Nasik, Nagpur, Amravati, Gujarat, Bihar, Kerala, Karnatka, Uttrakhand and even from some foreign countries visited the J&K Pavillion and interacted with the members of the official delegation and co-exhibitors from the UT.
The varied tourism products introduced by the Department during the last two years, post Covid experiences and the new initiatives captivated the attention of the travel representatives and professionals alike.
The interactions consisted of detailed presentations, various short films on known and off-beat destinations of Jammu and Kashmir and discussions on sustainable inbound & outbound travel for the year.
The officers representing the Tourism Department comprised Special Secretary, Tourism, S. Amarjit Singh, Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Development Authority Pahalgam Syed Sajad Qadri, Joint Director Tourism, Jammu, Mrs. Sunaina Sharma and other officers.
S. Amarjit Singh while interacting with the visiting delegates and the media informed them that to further diversify the experiences of and attractions for tourists J&K Government is developing 75 new offbeat destinations while strictly maintaining the scenic beauty and ecology of these areas. He said new ecologically balanced accommodation units are coming up at these destinations in the form of homestays for which the Government has already notified a policy and the Department is working to execute it.
OTM Mumbai is the country’s biggest and largest international travel and tourism interface. This year’s OTM, which was held at the recently launched Jio World Convention Centre, Mumbai saw the participation of over 1,250 exhibitors from 50 countries and 30 Indian states and UTs, showcasing their destinations and tourism products.
Meanwhile, on the third and final day J&K Tourism organised a big road show in which representatives of Travel Trade Fraternity of Maharashtra and other visiting delegates participated.
On the occasion, a detailed Powerpoint presentation, various short films on known and off-beat destinations of Jammu and Kashmir and its adventure potential were showcased. Also the roadshow highlighted the known and lesser-known destinations besides the art and craft, pilgrimage, adventure, border, film tourism and the upcoming events and festivals of the UT.
An open question answer session to address the queries of the participants was also held during the roadshow.