It has something to offer to every tourist: Reddy
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 26: Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) G. Kishan Reddy and Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh Radha Krishna Mathur addressed the mega-tourism event “Ladakh: New Start, New Goals” in Leh today. Reddy addressed the event virtually.
During the event, “A Tourism Vision for Ladakh” document was unveiled which focused on overall development of the Union Territory.
Click here to watch video
The document envisioned promoting tourism in the backdrop of sustainable ecological practices, building on local material and human resources. Member of Parliament of Ladakh Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, Secretary of Tourism & Culture, UT Ladakh K Mehboob Ali Khan; Secretary of Ministry of Tourism, Government of India (GoI) Arvind Singh and other dignitaries also attended the event.
The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India in collaboration with Department of Tourism, Administration of Union Territory of Ladakh and Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) is organizing this event titled Ladakh: New Start, New Goals from 25th -28th August, 2021. The objective of the event is to promote tourism to Ladakh as a tourist destination with focus on aspects of adventure, culture and responsible tourism. The event aimed at providing indigenous product knowledge to the industry stakeholders and also a platform to local stakeholders for interaction with the tour operators / buyers from the rest of the country.
Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh Radha Krishna Mathur spoke about the new tourism products that Ladakh can offer to the visitors such as winter tourism, science based tourism etc. He added that the cultural and heritage tourism has enormous potential in Ladakh to offer to its visitors. He also mentioned about the carbon neutral path for Ladakh that is being followed. He mentioned that Buddhist Chanting has been identified by the UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage of Ladakh.
Mathur appreciated Ministry of Tourism for organizing this event.
Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) G Kishan Reddy in his virtual address said that tourism in Ladakh has seen immense growth in the last 40 years.
“Ladakh is the ‘Land of High Passes’, that has something to offer to every tourist from bliss of natural beauty to adventure opportunities for trekkers, bikers, cyclist, climbers etc. At the same, the monasteries of Hemis, Alchi, Thiksay make Ladakh a cultural and heritage hub,” he said.
The Union Minister also mentioned that to leverage the huge tourism potential of Ladakh, the Tourism Ministry has launched ‘Ladakh: New Start New Goals’ program and this is a platform that provides tour operators from other parts of the country and customers to interact with local stakeholders from Ladakh.
He added that Tourism Ministry has also prepared ‘Ladakh Vision Document’ where all matters related to the development of Tourism in Ladakh are discussed in detail. The Central Government has also contributed Rs.23.21 crore for Tourist Water Screen Projection Multimedia show and other tourist attractions and also developing Chaukihang Vihara Project under the PRASHAD scheme.
Reddy said that in places like Ladakh for tourism to develop the community partnership is very important and stressed the need to develop overall tourism along with focusing on creating a professional skilled workforce.
“Tourism is one of the largest job creators in India. The Prime Minister has named Tourism as one of the 12 Champion sectors in the services Industry ,” Reddy said.
Member of Parliament of Ladakh Jamyang Tsering Namgyal said he believe that this program will not only boost the tourism sector of Ladakh but also the economy of UT.
“This program will give us a vision how we can create sustainable and responsible tourism in UT,” he said and shared his vision of projecting Ladakh as a year-round destination for tourism and also emphasized the potentiality of winter tourism and winter sports in Ladakh. He stressed on conducting Zanskar winter tourism festival and winter sports festival for a duration of one month and also urged to boost tourism in Kargil.
Secretary of Ministry of Tourism, GoI Arvind Singh said that Ladakh is a heaven of adventure sports. Its rugged terrain and gushing rivers provide ripe opportunities for activities like trekking, river rafting, camping, mountain climbing and biking.
Secretary of Tourism & Culture, UT Ladakh K Mehboob Ali Khan thanked Ministry of Tourism GoI for drafting “A Tourism Vision for Ladakh”.
Advisor to Lt. Governor, UT Ladakh Umang Narula congratulated Ministry of Tourism for preparing vision document. “This Vision document can provide a good base for finalizing tourism policy for UT. It is very important for Ladakh to have a tourism policy,” he added.
The event is being attended by around 150 participants which includes opinion makers, tour operators, hoteliers, diplomats, home stay owners, senior officials from Government of India and UT Administration of Ladakh. The three days’ event includes activities like exhibition, panel discussions, B2B meetings, technical tours, cultural evening to showcase tourism facilities and tourism products of Ladakh.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
