Rajouri, May 1: A two-day workshop on practicing responsibletourism in Himalayas organized by the centre for hospitality and tourism,school of management studies of Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (BGSBU), incollaboration with World Wide Fund for Nature-India and department of wildlife protection.
Speaking on the occasion, Vice-Chancellor BGSBU, Prof JavedMusarrat, said, “Ecotourism has emerged as one of the most important sectors ofthe international tourism industry.”
He urged the participants to come forward with theirvaluable inputs for decision making agencies in order to formulate andimplement an inclusive ecotourism policy for the state of Jammu andKashmir.
Chief Wildlife Warden, Suresh Gupta, spoke on severalvarious initiatives of the wildlife department to promote ecotourism in thestate. He talked about the challenges faced by the Wildlife department andsought cooperation of the general masses for effective implantation of variousinitiatives taken up by the government for promoting ecotourism.
Chief Conservator of Forest, Ecotourism, J Frankoihighlighted the draft ecotourism policy of the state and invited suggestionsfrom various stakeholders to come up with a long term policy framework for thedevelopment of ecotourism in the state.
Registrar, Dr Ashfaq Ahmed Zarri, said that one of theimportant outcomes of the workshop was to formulate a consultative group thatwill advise the government towards a comprehensive policy framework and anaction plan to promote and develop ecotourism.
On the occasion a panel discussion was conducted Dr PankajChandan.
Organising secretary of event, Dr Danish Iqbal Rainapresented the welcome address, where as workshop coordinator Vinay Kumar andSabeha Mufti also spoke during the event.