Integrated Tourism Circuit key to upscale tourism in region - CII

By 121 News Reporter

Chandigarh 17th June:--Development of Integrated Tourism Circuit (ITC) is the key to bring this region on global tourism map, since no city has ever progressed in isolation on tourism front. There is a need to club together and showcase to the world, a complete package which includes unique strengths and attractions of various northern states like Chandigarh Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and J&K to upscale tourist inflow in the region, both domestic and international", highlighted Mr Rahul Pandit, Chairman, Hospitality Core Group, CII Tourism Fest 2013 & President & Executive Director, The Lemon Tree Hotel. He was addressing a Roadshow on CII Tourism Fest organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), here today.

"It is high time, we promoted the region as a combined tourism hub to leverage its unique strengths to the fullest and attract foreign tourists and investments", he added.

"The growth of Tourism and hospitality sector in India is critical to achieve overall inclusive growth of the country, owing to the immense potential of this sector to generate jobs and circulate the economy, considering the fact that the employment generation in tourism & hospitality sector is three times more than manufacturing sector", emphasised Mr Jayant Davar, Chairman, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Northern Region & Co Chairman & MD, Sandhar Technologies Ltd.

"The inbound tourism in India was less than 1 % of our GDP last year so we need to put huge impetus on tourism and enhance the facilities, services, amenities and promote India as a preferred tourist destination. There is also a need for better coordination, enhanced Liaisoning, aggressive B2B tie ups and strong networking amongst key stakeholders from all across the world in order to put this region on World map on tourism front. The CII Tourism Fest 2013, scheduled to be held from 5-7  Dec 2013 at Chandigarh would serve as an ideal platform to showcase and promote the region and in turn India as a tourist destination amongst various global participants like Tour Operators, Travel portals, Travel Agents, Central & State Government Tourism Agencies, Tourism Boards of various Countries, Airlines, Air Charter Companies, City Transport Providers, Publishers of journals and academic textbooks, Tourism Web Portal Companies, Educational Institutes etc in a big way. It would comprise a lot of Buyer Seller Meets; deliberations on required Policy initiatives; International Dance Shows; National and International Food Festivals, Golf Tournament; International Chef Meets; Leisure & Excursion Trips etc," informed Mr Davar.

"North can attract tourists for various forms of tourism like Eco tourism, Religious tourism, cultural tourism, Hill Tourism, Architectural, Farm, Heritage, Weekend and Lifestyle tourism. Presently, out of 2.5 lac tourists visiting Shimla every year, only 22,000 tourists stay put in Chandigarh. This number can grow by at least 5 times, if an Integrated Tourism Circuit is created with participation and synergy between all key stakeholders like the travel and tourism operators, agencies, governments and the industry from all northern states", highlighted Ms Tanvi Garg, Director – Tourism, Chandigarh Administration while addressing the CII Tourism Fest Roadshow, organised to bring the hospitality industry from the region on board.

 

"Chandigarh and Punjab are partnering in this Fest as Host City and Principal Partner State respectively, along with 5 other states, primarily with the aim to network strongly with the world and increase the flow of International and domestic tourists here. The need of the hour is to showcase the northern region as a Global Tourist Destination by creating synergies between various stakeholders, creating enabling policies, desired infrastructure and thus attracting investments in the tourism and hospitality sector, which is also the objective of CII Tourism Fest", she further emphasised.

"Tourism is a business that brings both money as well as smiles. This sector contributes 5.6 % to India's GDP presently and has the potential to double in the next 10 years, considering our great heritage, beautiful locations and cheaper medical facilities. We just need to brand it well. What is needed is effective and aggressive marketing and branding strategies to let the World know, what we have to offer. To fulfil this objective, CII Tourism Fest is being organised with participation of all key stakeholders like the various state governments, tour and travel industry and the hospitality sector", shared Mr Pikender Pal Singh, Regional Director, CII NR.