Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board brought together international experts at the forefront of the adventure travel industry from both, the private and public sectors to discuss the opportunities lies in the adventure travel segment of the state. The event – PATA Adventure Travel and Responsible Tourism Conference and Mart 2019, hosted by UTDB brought 300 delegates from 28 countries who engaged with Indian sellers and travel professionals.
Speaking on the ocassion, Satpal Maharaj, Minister for Tourism, Govt of Uttarakhand said that the three daylong event will showcase the great potential of adventure tourism that Uttarakhand boasts. This is going to be a great opportunity for the participants to have a firsthand experience of the destination. He urged the travel professionals to promote Rishikesh at world front for adventure tourism.
According to Dilip Jawalkar, Secretary Tourism, Religious Affairs and Culture Department, Government of Uttarakhand, the state is truly a paradise for adventure enthusiast which has a lot of potential to attract a large number of travellers from national and international fronts.
“We have noticed that Uttarakhand is quite popular among international travellers for wellness and adventure, and there has been a lot of demand in this segment. So looking at the vast opportunity to get more traffic to our state we decided to invite foreign delegates to showcase our potential and learn the new ideas to attract a large chunk of travellers to the state.”
While elaborating on the event, PATA CEO, Dr. Mario Hardy said that the event aims to be a catalyst for generating new ideas and improving collaboration between public and private sector organisations.
“By bringing together such a dynamic and diverse group of speakers, we hoped to highlight the need to discuss, analyse and share various ideas with both the public and private sector in planning, building and promoting a responsible travel and tourism industry,” he added.
In the august presence of Satpal Maharaj, Minister of Tourism, Uttarakhand, Yogendra Tripathi, IAS, Secretary Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, the conference was opened by Dilip Jawalkar, IAS, Secretary Tourism, Religious Affairs and Culture Department, Government of Uttarakhand.
47 seller organisations from 10 destinations (Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal and Thailand) and 44 buyer organisations from 18 source markets (Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Republic of Korea, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the USA) participated at the B2B Mart at PATA ARTCM 2019.
