Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 13: The Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta today chaired a meeting to review various activities being undertaken by the Tourism Department to highlight and promote new tourist destinations in Jammu and Kashmir.
Principal Secretary, Public Works (R&B) Department, Administrative Secretary, Tourism Department along with MD, JKTDC, Directors Tourism Jammu and Kashmir, Director, Culture Department, and concerned officers of the Department participated in the meeting.
It was informed that the tourism in Jammu and Kashmir has crossed the mark of highest tourist footfall in November when 1,27,605 tourists visited the Union Territory in a single month. Moreover, to attract local and foreign tourists to the UT, the Tourism Department is organizing various roadshows across major cities of the country and raising awareness on the tourism-related events, activities, and destinations in Jammu and Kashmir. These cities include Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, and Lucknow.
The Chief Secretary asked the Tourism Department to promote 75 new tourist places by developing comprehensive facilities in an integrated manner having adequate provisions of recreational activities, eateries, and restrooms.
Dr. Mehta asked the Department to preserve, restore, and promote the cultural and architectural heritage of Jammu and Kashmir. He advised the Department to raise awareness about these places by organizing dedicated travel, trekking-expeditions, mountain bike adventures, and stays around the identified sites. He advised the Department to promote tourism cooperatives for comprehensive tourism development through collective efforts of locals, youth, PRIs through Department-sponsored training, capacity-building, and handholding.
In the winter months, the Department will further organize the Jammu festival, white water rafting championship, Christmas carnival, Winter Carnival, Gulmarg snow festival, Lohri festival, Mata Vaishno Devi Sangeet Sammelan, and several others, as a part of its calendar of activities under the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
The Chief Secretary asked the Department to actively promote wall and rock climbing sport throughout the Union Territory, as there exists a huge potential on this account. He impressed upon the Department to strive for observing the most vibrant winter season this year with a special focus on the local and domestic tourists, now that the National Highway to the Kashmir valley has been upgraded
To promote rural tourism, it was informed that specific activities will be organized along the identified rural circuits across Jammu and Kashmir, including Hokersar-Parihaspora-Gohan in Gulmarg, Waderbala, Nowgam Mawar- Lolab in Kupwara, Chari-Sharief-Doodhpathri-Yousmarg in Budgam Saderkoot Payeen- Watlab in Bandipora and, Bani-Basohli-Sarthal and Billawar Duggan in Kathua, among others.
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