Travel Agents Society of Kashmir held its 43rd Annual General Meeting here on Saturday during which it elected its members to Executive Committee.Mir Anwar, Bashir Karnai, Ather Yameen Narwari, Ali M Shangaloo, Waseem Gosani, Maqsood Badyari, Hanif Kawa, Hafiz Shalla, Rafiq Siah, Ashraf Guroo, Yaseen Baktoo, Abu Bakar Khar, Mohammed Sidiq Kolu, Zaffar Baktoo were voted to EC who will chose president for the next term.Director Tourism Kashmir Mahmood A Shah who was the chief guest on the occasion complemented the new team for taking over one of the oldest travel associations in Kashmir.Addressing the gathering of travel agents and hoteliers in the AGM, Director Tourism said the department of tourism is vigorously promoting tourism and it has many promotional programmes in the pipeline for autumn and winter tourism promotion.
He said the department is organising saffron festival for which they have also collaborated with department of agriculture.He said the department of tourism is organising golf tournament in second week of the November this year for the ambassadors of different countries where from Kashmir have travel advisories.“We want to dilute the travel advisories from these countries by inviting ambassadors to Kashmir for golf tournament. They will visit Kashmir and see how safe it is to play golf and roam around. The successful hosting of golf tournament will help us remove negative perception,” said Mahmood A Shah.
Director Tourism Kashmir said this year the tourist footfall from main markets like Gujarat and Maharashtra declined but added that travellres from South Indian states have shown inclination to Kashmir.“We will also visit South India states and organise road show there. South India is also a good market which we need to tap,” he said.He said besides organising winter sports competitions in famous ski resort Gulmarg, the department kick-started winter sports activities in Pahalgam also from last year.“We organised ski courses at Pahalgam which was successful. We are trying to promote Pahalgam as winter destination also,” he said.Speaking on the occasion, Director Floriculture M Hussain Mir said floriculture is also one of the important aspects of tourism.Among the travel trade fraternity who spoke on the occasion include President Travel Agents Association of Kashmir Ashfaq Siddiq Dug, Chairman Houseboat Owners Association G R Siah, Secretary General J&K Hoteliers Club Tariq Rashid Gania, President Kashmir Hotels and Restaurant Owners Federation Wahid Malik, and Chairman Tourist Trade Interest Guild Akram Siah, Chairman Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Alliance Manzoor Pakhtoon, Chairman Pilgrim and Leisure Tour Operators Forum Nasir Shah, Chairman Indian Association of Tour Operators JK Chapter Abdul Khaliq Wangnoo, Chairman Travel Agents Association of India JK Chapter Shamim Shah and Khazir Mohamamd Dar.Deputy Directors Tourism Riyaz Beigh, Peerzada Zahoor and Wasim Raja were also present during AGM.