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| Tourism Department holds tourist conference at inappropriate time, still claims success | | | Jehangir Rashid
Early Times Report
srinagar, Apr 9: The state government more so the department of tourism is upbeat over the holding of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) conference here in the summer capital of the state, but the fact of matter is that the timing of the conference was not appropriate.
Many of the tourism experts said that the conference should be held at a time so that the intending visitors plan the things in advance. They said that the conference was held at a time when the people had already drawn up their schedule as where to go once the vacations start.
The TAAI conference that was organized between March 27 and March 30 failed to enthuse the people despite the claims of the department that it was a grand success. It was after a gap of 30 years that such a conference was held in Srinagar but still then it was a total flop show.
"The TAAI conference was supposed to be organized in October-November 2018, but the people at helm in the department wanted to act as more loyal than king. The ill planning from these people ensured that huge amount goes down the drain with no fruitful results and all this was done in the name of tourism promotion in Kashmir," said sources.
Sources said that tours aimed at attracting tourists to any place including Kashmir are held in the off season adding that strange things happen in Jammu & Kashmir. The advantage of holding promotion events in off season ensures that people intending to visit Kashmir plan the things in advance.
"For a tourist who plans to travel the plans are made three to six months prior to the scheduled travel date. The TAAI conference would have been successful in case it would have been organized in October or November. After taking part in such a conference the delegations would have gone back and acted as brand ambassadors for Kashmir tourism," said sources.
Sources said that holding such a conference in March has dampened the spirits of tourist players even though some of them are dancing to the unsynchronized tunes of Jammu & Kashmir government especially the department of tourism. In such a case only a fool would expect that there would be huge rush of tourists to Jammu & Kashmir this year.
"Everything is done in a haphazard manner in Jammu & Kashmir and same was repeated with regard to the holding of TAAI conference in Srinagar. The people who intend to visit Kashmir or Jammu this year have already made their plans last year. As the situation in Kashmir was turbulent last year one cannot expect that tourists in good number would come to the valley this year," said sources.
Sources said that 'dictatorship' has crept in the tourism department with the people at helm not ready to accept the valuable suggestions from the concerned stakeholders or for that matter the common masses. They said the stubborn attitude has led to a situation where the tourism is going back step by step. |
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