Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 17: Minister of State, Ministry of Tourism and Culture Prahlad Singh Patel said that tourism industry could benefit a lot from medical tourism in the post Corona period as India has not just proved to be safer vis a vis other places and got a lot of recognition and name in the world for this but is also the most ideal for dealing with post Corona impacts that people may still carry.
Addressing the session on “Reviving the stressed sectors to support the post-COVID recovery for India” at ASSOCHAM’s virtual conference, the Minister said, “Corona is almost over now and whatever damage it had to do has happened. During this period our steps brought a lot of good name for the country. Even foreigners preferred to stay back here and felt safe. Now the post Corona situation is one where our system of medicine, local cure and wellness methods are what could be best suited to deal with it. After corona medical tourism is expected to rise and we must be prepared for this opportunity”.
He added that the people are now preferring to go to tiger projects and other serene places to be with nature and not just prefer big hotels who will continue to have their own importance and preference for international events etc.
ASSOCHAM is organizing a five day long virtual conference on its Foundation Day from December 15 to 19, 2020 with central theme “India’s resilience: Atamnirbhar roadmap towards US$5 trillion economy” where a series of sessions are being dedicated by various ministers including Nirmala Sitharaman, Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal, Smriti Zubin Irani, Dharmendra Pradhan, DV Sadananda Gowda, Narendra Singh Tomar, Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Santosh Gangwar, Arjun Ram Meghwal and Prahlad Singh Patel.
Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and Group CEO, OYO Hotels and Homes, Ajay Bakaya, Managing Director, Sarovar Hotels, Manik Batra, Director, Batra Group, Chairman, ASSOCHAM J&K Council, Mahesh Natarajan, Senior Vice President Marketing, Sales and Business Development, IHHR Hospitality and Dr Subhash Goyal, Founder and Chairman, STIC Travel Group of Companies also expressed their views.