On the sidelines of the India International Travel Mart (IITM), being held at Pune these days, the J&K Tourism organised an interactive meet with the tour and travel operators of the city in which a large number of prominent tour operators of Pune participated.The event was aimed at showcasing the tourist attractions of the UT and to invite travellers to visit J&K.Director, Tourism, Jammu, Mr. Vivekanand Rai, Director, Tourism, Kashmir, Dr. G N Itoo and Additional Secretary, Tourism, Waseem Raja attended the interaction.Interacting with the members of the travel fraternity, Mr. Vivekanand Rai and Dr G. N Itoo gave a detailed account of the activities undertaken by the Tourism Department in the last few months. They informed the Pune travel operators about the 75 mesmerising but lesser-known destinations which the Department is planning to promote in a big way and to encourage Pune-based holidaymakers to visit the Union Territory.
They were also informed of several other measures taken by the Department for the revival of the tourism sector and which has resulted in record domestic tourist footfall during previous months.On the occasion, a detailed presentation on the off-beat destinations of Jammu and Kashmir was made by Waseem Raja.A drawing competition was also organised by the Department at Deccan College Pune in which students from various city colleges participated. Besides, the stall of J&K at the IITM saw a huge rush of locals and travel agents and the travel agents of J&K were buoyed by the response.The outreach was part of the extensive promotional campaign launched this year by the Department across several major cities and markets across the country which has yielded encouraging results.As recognition of this effort, the Department was conferred with the "Best Domestic Tourism Promotion Award" at the award Ceremony of the IITM last evening.