Jaipur, Dec 18 (KNS): The Department of Tourism is participating in the India Travel Mart which started here yesterday.

The three day B2B tourism event is also being attended by states like Goa, Tamil Nad, Madhya Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat besides some renowned travel brands across the country.

The inaugural session marked the presentation of short films prepared by the J & K Tourism Department. The short films on the varied tourism potential of J&K including Leisure, Nature, Pilgrimage, Heritage, Adventure were deeply appreciated by the audience.

Deputy Director, Tourism, Jammu, Naresh Kumar and Deputy Director, Tourism, Kashmir, Mr. Ahsanul Haq Chishti are representing the Department at the ITM.  

On the sidelines of the event, an interaction session was held today between the officers of the Department and tour operators attending the travel mart.

The officers of the Department gave an overview of the initiatives taken by the Department during the last year or so for strengthening the tourism sector particularly holding capacity building programmes and vaccination drives among local stakeholders.

The participating tour operators were also informed by the officers of J&K Tourism Department about the lesser known and upcoming destinations in the Union Territory being promoted by the Department. The tour operators evinced keen interest in the infrastructure, logistic details and packages about these destinations and said they would include these destinations in their itineraries and packages for the upcoming tourist season.

The J&K stall at the event also witnessed a good activity with visitors particularly tour operators and potential tourists evincing keen interest in the tourism infrastructure, logistic details and packages.

Large number of visitors who visited the J&K stall evinced keen interest in the tourism products on display and enquired about the most sought after destinations like Srinagar, Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Sonmarg, Yousmarg, Patnitop, Mansar, Bhaderwah, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi ji and Katra.

The delegation, in a series of Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Client (B2C) meetings, also informed the visitors about the current status of winter tourism in the UT, particularly various snow activities being held. (KNS)