Aditya Vikram Singh,
New Delhi:
New Tourism Foundation, an ideating foundation for tourism and heritage of India, organised exclusive one day seminar on New India –New Ladakh. The seminar took place on 3rd December 2019 was attended by Minister of State, Ministry of Tourism and Culture (Independent Charge) Prahlad Singh Patel will be the Chief Guest of the event. Other speakers include BJP MP from Ladakh Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, C. Phunsok, IAS (Retd) Vice Chancellor of University of Ladakh & Former Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir and Vinod Zutshi, IAS (Retd), Former Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Govt of India.
Addressing the media, Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State, Ministry of Tourism and Culture (Independent Charge), shared, “I believe we cannot separate culture from tourism and who so ever come in India come to see the heritage of India. And Ladakh is one of the most beautiful destinations with a perfect combination of beauty and rich culture. The best thing about this destination is that they wish to encourage quality tourism not quantity tourism, which showcase how much they care about their destination. We also propose a fully equipped facilitation cum training centre for Adventure tourism in Leh Ladakh and also we propose if we can have a complete route for Leh Ladakh for tourism facilities. It could be PP model or government managed, that is not decided. However what we want is that there should not be any pollution in a place like Ladakh. Also we look forward to give our 100% support to promote Ladakh in whichever way we can”.
The need of the hour is that Ladakh has to be showcased and aggressively promoted, in the right perspective, before the Domestic and International travellers and to enable Ladakh to offer Quality Tourism and make it one of the best tourism destinations in the World. Ministry of Tourism has already announced its resolve and plans to support tourism in Ladakh through Capacity building, Building awareness, supporting Bed and Breakfast scheme to tide away the shortage of hotels and promoting Adventure sports.
Talking about this new initiative, Vinod Zutshi, IAS (Retd), President, New Tourism Foundation shared, “The newly acquired Union Territory status has opened the doors for innumerable opportunities for expanding Tourism and cultural activities in the region. The new status of Ladakh will provide a great platform for tourism to prosper as there will be greater coordination with the Centre, more resources, and greater support from agencies and stake holders of tourism industry. We at New Tourism Foundation believe in bringing the hidden tourism treasures of the country on a global platform and this particular initiative of ours is one step forward in this direction. Ladakh has huge potential in tourism and we hope through our efforts we will be able to promote the rich culture and heritage of the state to gain more tourists to Ladakh.”
Sunil Gupta, Secretary General, Tourism Foundation, mentioned that New Tourism Foundation will work towards bringing the issues pertaining in India Tourism and organising more such educative seminars. Also the foundation will work towards promoting the tourism of the country.
