(Tourism
Department needs to direct increased marketing efforts on South India and South
East Asia which are emerging as potential Tourism markets for Kashmir)
The 64th Convention of the Travel agents
Association of India has just concluded in Srinagar. The Convention was
attended by over 600 delegates from all over the country. The Convention was
held in Srinagar after 31 years. A large number of delegates came from South
India including Kerala, known as “God’s Own Country”. The delegates including
some top doyens of Travel, Hospitality, Airline and Travel media such as Aditya
Gosh, CEO, Indigo Airlines; Nukul Anand, CEO, ITC Hotels; Kapil Kak, CEO, CAPA;
Yossi Fatael, Vice-President UFTAA; Rodeney D’Cruz, Assistant Director IATA,
India; Praveen Chugh, President, TAFI; Rajendran Vellapalath, CEO, TP Connect,
Dubai and Yogesh Gondal, Editor New India Publications. From “God’s Own
Country”, Najeeb, the President of Kerala Tourism Federation was there. This is
in addition to the Chairmen of all the State Chapters of TAAI and so many other
prominent Travel Agents, Hoteliers and Airline representatives. The mere fact
that such an high profile Travel Conference was held here is enough marketing
initiative to attract tourists not only from all over the country but abroad
also. The credit for this goes to the State Tourism Secretary Sarmad Hafeez,
Director Tourism, Mehmud Shah and the most dynamic and helpful TAAI President
Sunil Kumar and his team.
An important part of the convention were the
knowledge sessions on different topics related to Tourism promotion, use of
technology, innovations of digitization, and the impact of media on Tourism
promotion etc. Different experts in the relevant fields spoke during these
sessions. Regarding the role of the media, there were strong reservations
regarding over exaggerated reports with very scary pictures and videos
circulated all over. It was felt that such reports discouraged potential
tourists as the impression went around that the situation was dangerous and out
of control even though actually on ground it was not so bad. It was disclosed
that the Government had set up a crisis management group in the Ministry of
Tourism to counter the negative publicity sometime back. However, as informed
in the meeting, the group failed to deliver and it was wound up. There were
suggestions for having crisis groups in the area of every chapter of TAAI for
giving exact situation for the benefit of potential tourists. Some people
opined that it was no use contacting media in general to play down negative
news as they will not listen because every unusual happening is news for them.
On the contrary, some media experts opined that every negative event should be
countered by the Travel Trade through Travel Media with positive happenings in
the concerned areas at the same time. Kashmir was being painted as a dangerous
and unstable area by the media. However, the very holding of the convention successfully
with such a large attendance in Srinagar counters that view.
One important announcement in the convention was
declaration of year 2018 as the “Visit Kashmir Year” by the Travel Agents
Association of India. Mr. Sunil Kumar, the President of TAAI announced that the
TAAI Managing Committee had decided to promote tourism to Kashmir by announcing
through all the member websites and printed literature the celebration of the
year 2018 as the “Visit Kashmir Year”! According to him all the members would
package Kashmir beautifully so that the valley witnesses a bumper tourist
season. An interesting sidelight of the convention was a large presence of
delegates from the South Indian states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and so on. Also
there were travel agents from South East Asia. It was felt that there is a lot
of scope for generating traffic to Kashmir from the Southern States. Tourists
have been coming from these parts earlier also. However, an important aspect was
that the Southern States were not so much affected by the biased negative
propaganda of the mainstream channels of the North. These were hardly watched
in the South! Kerala was a good example from the South which had many water
bodies and houseboats. Najeeb, the President of the Kerala Tourism Federation
offered to help in marketing Kashmir on a reciprocal basis. Kerala Tourism
apart from marketing Kashmir Holidays for the Keralites would also promote
Kashmir among the foreigners visiting Kerala. Similarly, Kashmir Tourism would
promote visits by Kashmiri travellers to Kerala and also market Kerala among
the foreigners visiting Kashmir. He called it from “God’s Own Country” to
“Paradise on Earth”! Something worth experimenting as Tourism Promotion!
It may be worthwhile for local travel agents
to explore taking of groups from Kashmir to Kerala. There are direct flights
from Delhi to Kochi. Incidentally, Kerala has the first mosque built in India. Cheraman
Jum'ah Masjid in Kodungallur town, in central Kerala, just 30 km north of
Kochi, is not just the oldest in India and the subcontinent but one built
during the lifetime of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in 629 AD by an Arab propagator
of Islam, Malik Ibn Dinar. It
is also testimony to two facts. One, Islam came to India long before the
Mughals came in from the northwest. Two, the entry of Islam was smooth and
Muslims enjoyed the full patronage of the locals irrespective of their
religions - a facet that is still visible and cherished here. Incidentally,
Kashmir’s historical tolerance gels with the Keralite non-communal life style!
From “God’s Own Country” to “Paradise on Earth” really clicks!
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