‘Minister has to attend international events to bring U’khand on global tourism map’
Thursday, 12 May 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
Responding to Congress leader Pritam Singh’s statement, the State’s Tourism minister Satpal Maharaj has said that the four-day Arabian Travel Market (ATM) underway in Dubai is being attended by tour operators and others in business related to tourism from across the world. Singh should be happy at Uttarakhand’s participation in such a global event. He probably doesn’t know that when one talks of bringing Uttarakhand on the world tourism map, one has to sit and talk with people from across the world, said Maharaj.
The minister said that Singh’s statement is a sign of his immaturity and ignorance. “Instead of being happy at Uttarakhand participating in a global tourism event, he is making illogical statements to misguide the people of the State. Tourism in Uttarakhand suffered major los during the Covid pandemic. Now, the tourists and investors from around the world want to visit Uttarakhand, enjoy its natural beauty along with adventure tourism, skiing and other activities. In such a scenario, our attempt is also to enable the maximum number of tourists and investors to visit Uttarakhand. The Tourism minister also has to take an initiative at the international level. As far the Char Dham Yatra is concerned, all the arrangements for it were already made earlier and I had also monitored all the departments concerned. Considering the high number of visitors, it had been clarified earlier that travellers will be able to undertake the Yatra depending on the carrying capacity and medical check-up,” said Maharaj. The minister further said that his plan to attend the four-day ATM in Dubai had been finalised earlier. “We want to encourage adventure sports, skiing tourism, hom stays and water sports in the Tehri lake. For this purpose, it is important to attend tourism related activities abroad to which one is invited,” he said.
