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| Jammu festival should serve to attract tourists | | | The announcement about the annual Jammu festival held for three days for last few years, to be extended to a fortnight celebrations from April 1 to 15 has kindled hope of Jammu tourism getting some promotion. However, if the purpose really is to promote Jammu tourism and acquaint the visitors from outside the state with the ethnic and cultural diversity in the region, the stress during the festival should be to display various aspects of Jammu regional cultural, arts, cuisines, handicrafts and heritage, instead of inviting artists from outside the state for presenting their performances, the stress should be on providing the local artists from various sub regions and parts of the state and particularly of Jammu to give performance of their local art and culture.
Jammu city is going to be a place of attraction for the people inhabiting the city as well as those coming from outside. The 15 days long Jammu festival, the holding of which has become a routine affair for last few years, is promised to be organized on a much larger scale with the holding of events spread to various places, instead of one or two places as was the practice earlier. Moreover we are told that this year's festival will be a sort of mini carnival and a gala show with added attractions. The arrangements for holding the festival have been reviewed repeatedly and finalized in a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister himself. While almost all the government departments and agencies have been geared up to make the event a grand success, the participations of non-official agencies, including the trade organization, particularly those connected with tourism and pilgrimage is also being ensured. The organizers of the festival claim that it will project the art, culture, style of living, ethnic identities as well as cuisines of various sub regions of Jammu. While some NGOs as well as commercial houses are also spending money on their own to make the festival a memorable event. While all this is welcome, a million dollar question is will the objective of the festival, which by all reckoning is to attract tourists to Jammu is going to be achieved by holding of the same. There is no evidence of the organizers of the festival or the government having taken effective measures to ensure that visitors from outside the State come during these days to get acquainted with the heritage rich cultural diversity, ethnic identities and traditional foods and way of life of various sections of the people in Jammu. Even motivation of the pilgrims visiting Vaishno Devi these days, to stay put at Jammu during the festival days is nowhere in sight. While bringing home to the local people the cultural diversity and rich heritage of the region as well as providing them required entertainment is all right, but the efforts put in and money spent on these festivals etc can be more rewarding if we can attract tourists from outside the State to Jammu, so that the economy of the region in particular and of State in general improves. While some artists and cultural troupes from outside the state may be invited to give their performances and entertain the people, what is desired is to motivate the tour operators and travel agencies as well as the media from outside the State to witness the events of Jammu festival and spread the message about the richness of culture and heritage, art and craft of the region. A glimpse of various attractive tourist spots as well as religious shrines in the region should also be provided to the visitors from outside, so that they feel attracted to include these parts in their program of future tours. |
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