Niharika Shukla – New Delhi
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With an aim to promote the snow clad mountains and boost adventure tourism segment, union tourism minister K Chiranjeevi recently launched the ‘777 days of Incredible Indian Himalayas Campaign’ on world tourism day in New Delhi. The ministry of tourism also wants to launch adventure activities such as skiing, mountaineering and trekking. The agenda behind the campaign is to attract more domestic and foreign tourists making the Himalayas a 365 days destination for travellers and also to spread awareness that 73 per cent of Himalayas lies in the Indian territory.
‘The greatest show on earth’and ‘Life altering journey on Himalyas’, two of the new promotional films were also launched by him along with a map of Himalayas on the occassion. The Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) is also collaborating with the ministry to promote this campaign and will be organising adventure activities – river rafting, Himalayan run and mountain and bike events. Also 50 per cent of the peak fee chargeable will be met by The Indian Mountaineering Foundation for the climbing expedition during the campaign, as decided by the ministry.
The campaign also focused on how the six Himalayan states of India -Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh can work towards promoting and developing the Himalayas as a tourist destination for domestic as well as foreign tourists. Discussion were also held on how to promote, brand and market the Indian Himalayas to make it easily accessible and an adventourous tourist spot for travellers.
It was also brought to light that most of the international tour operators do not include Himalayas in the destination points in India and the entire focus is mostly on the Golden Triangle. This needs to be changed and awareness about what Himalayas can offer to travellers needs to be spread.
