G 20 Event Has Potential To Promote JK Tourism On Next Level: Secy Tourism

SRINAGAR: Secretary, Tourism and Culture, Dr Syed Abid Rasheed Shah on Friday said that in the run-up to the G-20 event, slated to be held in the last week of May, massive participation of the general public has been witnessed in Jammu & Kashmir and that the young minds are being given an of how things operate on a global platform through the participatory exercises.

Shah spoke to the reporters on the sidelines of the model G20 summit, which was organized by the Tourism department at SKICC, Srinagar.

Shah said that a very important event is going to be held in Kashmir in the last week of May and as part of a participatory exercise where students from various colleges and schools and especially universities are being involved, a model G20 summit was organized to give these young minds a taste of how things operate on a global platform.

“In the run-up to the G-20 event, there is massive participation that we have seen from the people of Jammu & Kashmir, the government of J&K is organizing different events in the run-up to the main event to give a sense of public participation for the massive event for us on the international scale and has a potential to promote J&K tourism on the next level,” he said.

We are also making sure that while we are preparing for the main event, we encourage a lot of public participation to give a sense of involvement to the general public, especially the young bright minds, he said.

“Majority of the GDP comes from tourism as it is the backbone of our economy, so therefore, we have to project, promote and manage tourism in J&K in the right perspective so that it is taken to the next level on a local stand,” he added.

He added that J&K was always the prime destination for film tourism where the movies were being shot. “Now, I am happy to inform you that in the last year, over 200 movies have been shot in J&K. At present, the big film stars are coming in and today also we have a very big film crew in the town and there are queries for the future as well. The department has come up with a very strong facilitator ecosystem concerning film tourism,” he said.

“We are trying to promote new tourism destinations. For this calendar year, we have planned 300 new destinations while some of them are already up and there are 75 offbeat destinations among them. The government as well as the tourism department is trying to project other destinations where fewer tourists are visiting,” he said, adding that 75 cultural heritage and adventurous destinations, and religious destinations have been shortlisted. “We are taking a holistic view in this regard,” he said. (KNO)