Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 5: The two- day 3rd International Conference on “Sustainable Destination Excellence: Revitalizing Peace through Innovation in Tourism”, was inaugurated here this morning at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Jammu.
Kavinder Gupta, Speaker, J&K Assembly, was the chief guest while Farooq Ahmad Shah, Secretary Tourism, Government of Jammu & Kashmir was the guest of honour, Prof R D Sharma, Vice-Chancellor, JU, presided over the function and Ma Christina G Aquino, president, APacCHRIE, Executive Director for Planning and Development of the Lyceum of the Philippines University Manila, was the key note speaker.
Kavinder Gupta, in his address, emphasized the role of tourism in integrating societies and promoting brotherhood and unity. While appreciating the theme of the conference, he said that tourism must be promoted at a large scale so that new issues can be resolved through innovation and creativity.
Ma Chrsitina G Aquino, in her key note address, highlighting the importance of convergence between Government, Industry and academia which can help all the stakeholders of the tourism and hospitality sector. Highlighting the 15 mega trends of the travel industry, she said we should have better vision for tourism other that just business and must have a reflection of humanity.
Farooq Ahmad Shah said that focus of the tourism development should be on the stakeholders who are the ultimate beneficiaries and its needs an integrated and sustainable approach to remove trust deficit in conflict destinations like J&K.
Prof R D Sharma, in his presidential remarks, said that tourism is an effective strategy to promote peace and that sustainability is a dynamic process. He said that tourism promotes national integration and promotes traditional art forms.
Prof Keshav Sharma, Dean, Faculty of Business Studies, said that tourism along with its obvious international economic impact transcends Governmental boundaries by bringing population of the world closer.
Earlier, Prof Parikshat Singh Manhas, Director SHTM, said that this conference has set a new dimension of bringing various tourism stakeholders on a common platform to discuss and deliberate on various issues related to sustainable tourism. He shared that the School is the process of leveraging the international linkages to promote tourism and hospitality education in the region.
Dr. Anil Gupta , conducted the proceedings and Dr Suvidha Khanna coordinated the technical sessions.
During the function, the conference proceedings were released along with the announcement of two books, titled “Sustainable Tourism Development: Building Competitive Advantage for Destinations” and “Integrated Approach for Sustainable Tourism: Issues and Challenges” edited by Prof Parikshat Singh Manhas, Dr Anil Gupta, and Dr Suvidha Khanna.
The conference was attended by over 120 international and national delegates, key Government officials of the tourism, industry professionals, faculty members, research scholars, and students.
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