Jammu, Jan 4: The government would consult the World Centre of Excellence for Destinations (CED) to exploit new destinations and market them at global level to further boost the tourism industry in the state.
 This, according to an official statement, was stated by Minister for Tourism and Culture, Nawang Rigzin Jora, during a meeting with the Officers of Tourism Department and State Representative of CED, here today. Minister of State for Tourism and Culture,  Nasir Aslam Wani was also present.
 Jora said that, in the first instance, the Government would seek consultancy of CED for exploring the tourist destinations like Bangus in Kashmir, Bhaderwah and Kishtwar in Jammu and several others in Ladakh.  In this regard, he instructed the concerned authorities to formulate a detailed report with the cooperation of CED for consideration of the Government.
 Special Secretary Tourism,  Altaf Hussian, Director Tourism Jammu,   R.K. Sharma, and Associate Professor, Business School and School for Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Jammu, Dr. Parikshat Singh Manhas, besides other senior officers of Tourism Department attended the meeting.  The CED state representative, Dr. Parikshat presented a detailed power point presentation on improving destination excellence and to make it pro-active during crisis.  He said, among others, the performance indicators of the destinations evaluated by the SMED including cultural wealth, respect for heritage, authenticity, traditions and characteristics of the host community and the local destinations. He said that Physical integrity of landscapes, organic diversity besides quality of local life and social progress,  quality of employment, visitors satisfaction, market positioning ,economic viability of the destinations, Tourism business, quality of governance and evaluation of results are also the indicators of SMED. Jora said that cash-conscious and value conscious travellers now demand and choose excellent experiences over affordable ones.  He said the current global recession lays an opportunity for destinations to avail themselves of validated tools to improve excellence and increase their attractiveness and competitiveness.  He said in this regard the state Government has initiated a process to impart training to the youth opening vistas of self employment and channelizing their energies to create a tourist friendly ambience.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 4 Jan 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 4 Jan 2011 18:30:00 GMT
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