Continuing its tradition to celebrate World Tourism Day which falls on 27th September, faculty and students of University Institute of Tourism & Hospitality Management (UITHM), Chandigarh University Gharuan today reached at Chandigarh International Airport to welcome the tourists and flyers by presenting them flower buds. Taking proper care of the protocols due to COVID-19, more than 10 students of Travel & Tourism program of UITHM-Chandigarh University led by Prof. Balwinder Kaur and Prof. Harjot Kaur participated in the hospitality drive at Chandigarh International Airport on the eve of World Tourism Day. This year, the World Tourism Day is being celebrated worldwide on the theme of “Tourism and Rural Development” with the motive to create awareness about the unique role that tourism plays in providing opportunities outside of big cities and preserving cultural and natural heritage all around the world. Today on the eve of World Tourism Day, UITHM also organized various virtual competitions which included Travel Writing, Photography, Rangoli Making, Face Painting, Best out of Waste and Paper Presentation in which more than 800 students of Hotel Management, Travel & Tourism Management, Airlines & Airport Management took part. While presenting a paper on the contribution made by Tourism Industry in India’s Economy, Prof. Shaiwali Yadav, a faculty of tourism at UITHM, Chandigarh University said, “The significant contribution of the Tourism and Hospitality Sector towards country’s economy can be ascertained from the fact that currently the tourism sector contributes 9.2% to the India’s GDP and as of 2019, 4.2 crore direct or indirect jobs were created in the tourism sector in India which was 8.1% of the total employment in the country”.Another faculty of tourism department, Prof. Dhruvita said, “COVID-19 has thrown the biggest challenge to the Global Tourism Sector and it has resulted in drop of about 78% in tourist traffic across the world and the industry needs to redefine, refocus on the strategies to revive the sector like focus on domestic tourists, robust revival of religious tourism”.