Div Com (J) reviews distt wise tourism dev plans for short & long term interventions

JAMMU: Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Dr Raghav Langer on Monday chaired a meeting of all Deputy Commissioners, Director Tourism and other officers of tourism department to review the tourism Development projects and plans prepared for promoting the tourism sector and identifying new, unexplored tourist spots in districts of the Division.
The Deputy Commissioners gave detailed powerpoint presentations on the identified locations/ tourist destinations and the future plans (short term, long term) prepared for exploring new tourist attractions in their respective districts.
The DCs also apprised about the plan prepared for starting activities in the identified areas including trekking, camping, Eco tourism, adventure tourism etc.
The Div Com observed that the Division is bestowed with abundant natural beauty and breathtaking landscapes. He asked the officers of the tourism department to develop new tourist circuits across the division, lay special focus on adventure tourism, trekking activities, pilgrimage sites, water sports, Eco tourism and other popular ventures.
The Div Com directed DCs and Tourism department to develop all the requisite tourism facilities at all the identified sites to attract the tourists to these less explored destinations.
Pertinently, the Office of the Lieutenant Governor has directed the DCs and Tourism Department to prepare a comprehensive future plan of each district for promoting the tourism sector in J&K by identifying new, unexplored tourist spots for providing a unique experience to tourists and increasing their footfall.
The Div Com directed the DCs to resolve all the issues of identification of land/ transfer of land for development of required infrastructure like accommodation, toilet facilities etc on priority.
The Div Com also suggested that Home stays can be promoted where the accommodation facilities are not available, while the trekking facilities can be planned at the destinations where road connectivity is not available.
He directed the Tourism department to launch a special IEC campaign to promote Jammu Tourist Circuit. He further directed for organizing festivals, events, activities in the districts to popularize the virgin tourist destinations. He also directed the concerned departments to make digital advertisements which can be publicized on social media platforms including videos/photos of these tourist destinations.
He also asked the Tourism department to highlight/ showcase the tourist spots of the division at Jammu Airport, Railway station, bus stand and other places so that tourists coming from outsides can know about all these tourism sites. He further asked to put sign boards on Highways, internal roads.
During the meeting it was decided to engage Youth with proper training to guide the tourists to the tourist spots.
To give a push to the local economy, the Div Com suggested to the DCs to explore provisions of establishment of stalls for providing market to the local products along the roads leading to these tourist sites.
The Div Com directed Director Tourism to depute nodal officers in each district for coordination with DCs and development of new tourist destinations.
The meeting was attended by Director Tourism Jammu, Executive Director, Mubark Mandi Heritage society, GM JKTDC, Joint Director Tourism, Assistant Director Tourism, Deputy Director Planning and other concerned officers while Deputy Commissioners of Jammu division along with other concerned officers attended the meeting through video conferencing.