KCCI Meeting Addresses Sudden Cancellation of Tourism Participation at OTM Mumbai
The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) convened a critical meeting today, attended by heads and representatives of 20 Hotel, Houseboat, travel, and tour organizations of Kashmir. The gathering aimed to deliberate on the serious situation arising from the Department of Tourism’s abrupt decision to cancel its participation in the Outbound Travel Mart (OTM), scheduled to be held in Mumbai from January 30 to February 1.
For over two decades, the Department of Tourism has been an active participant in tourism promotional fairs, and this year was no exception. The department had allocated space to representatives of various associations. However, the participating stakeholders, who had already traveled to Mumbai, were met with the rude shock of being informed at the eleventh hour that they could not participate due to the government’s cancellation decision.
Collective Frustration and Discontent
The meeting participants expressed collective frustration regarding the mishandling of one of the most important annual tourism promotional events. They were aghast at the mess created by the Department of Tourism in handling basic issues, making them difficult to resolve. The sudden cancellation subjected OTM participants from Kashmir to a difficult and financially burdensome position in Mumbai.
The Directorate of Tourism Kashmir had allocated a specific quota for travel and trade bodies to represent Kashmir at the OTM. Organizations were instructed to distribute these seats among their members through a process, charging Rs 10,000 as participation fees in advance, besides arranging their own lodging, boarding, and travel. However, upon arrival in Mumbai, participants were informed at the last minute that they could not participate due to the Department’s decision to cancel its involvement.
Impact on Local Businesses and Tourism Promotion
All heads and representatives of travel and tourism organizations expressed strong discontent regarding the apparent negligence and lack of seriousness exhibited by the Department of Tourism. Stakeholders emphasized their significant investments in travel, promotional materials, and accommodation, only to be denied the opportunity to showcase Kashmir as a premier travel destination.
This incident undermines local businesses’ efforts and jeopardizes Kashmir’s promotion as a tourist destination. The mismanagement creates a disconnect in promotional activities and damages the reputation of the region’s tourism sector. The absence of the prominently booked space by the Department of Tourism at the event further exacerbates the situation.
Calls for Better Management and High-Level Enquiry
Travel trade members raised concerns about the Department’s ongoing disregard for their participation in other tourism trade fairs, crucial for promoting Kashmir’s rich cultural and natural heritage. Stakeholders believe these events have been instrumental in attracting visitors and enhancing the region’s tourism profile. They expressed disgust over the treatment meted out to a sector that significantly contributes to the state’s revenues and demanded the constitution of a Tourism Board to oversee its workings.
Concerns were also raised over the cumbersome registration processes, which drain the time and energy of tourism stakeholders. Instead of focusing on their businesses, stakeholders are made to run from office to office for obtaining NOCs for the renewal of their units’ registration.
The heads of travel and tour organizations opined that they would seriously consider attending future events/functions organized by the Department of Tourism.
The participants appealed to the Chief Minister to order a high-level enquiry into the episode, which is bound to send negative signals about Kashmir Tourism.
Meeting Attendees
The meeting was attended by representatives from KCCI, TASK, KHAROA, UTTA, JKHARA, TAFOK, AKTO, DTOAK, TAAK, ATOAK, KHBOA, PLTOF, TAFI, IATO, TTIG, JKTA, ADTOI, PHAROA, and HC.
Press Release
The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) convened a meeting today attended by heads/representatives of 20 Hotel, Houseboat, travel and tour organisations of Kashmir to deliberate upon the serious situation arising out of the Department of Tourism’s sudden decision to cancel participation in the Outbound Travel Mart (OTM) being held at Mumbai from January 30 to February 1.
The Department of Tourism for more than 2 decades had been participating in tourism promotional fairs and this year too had allocated space to representatives of various Associations. The participating stakeholders had already travelled to Mumbai to be met with the rude shock snd at the eleventh hour informed that they could not participate in the OTM owing to Government’s cancellation decision.
All the participants in the meeting expressed collective frustration regarding the mishandling one of the most important tourism promotional events annually held in Mumbai. The members were aghast at the mess created by the Department of Tourism in handling basic issues and make them very difficult to resolve. In this The participants vociferously expressed concern over the sudden cancellation in OTM which had subjected OTM participants from Kashmir in a difficult and financially burdensome position in Mumbai.
The Directorate of Tourism Kashmir had allocated a specific quota for travel and trade bodies to represent Kashmir at the OTM. Organizations were instructed to distribute these seats among their members through a process , each charged Rs 10,000 by Tourism Department as participation fees in advance besides arranging their own lodging/Boarding and travel arrangements. However, upon arrival in Mumbai, all the members were informed at the last minute they could not participate in the tourism trade fair since Tourism Department had decided to cancel its participation. This , unfortunately, when a large number of participants carrying allocation letters and entry cards had already reached Mumbai.
All heads / representatives of travel and tourism organisations in the meeting at the Chamber office expressed strong discontent regarding the apparent negligence and lack of seriousness exhibited by the tourism department. Stakeholders emphasised that they had invested significant amounts in travel , promotional printing material and accommodation, only to be denied the opportunity to showcase Kashmir as a premier travel destination at one of the largest tourism fairs in the country.
This incident undermines local businesses’ efforts and jeopardises Kashmir’s promotion as a tourist destination. Such mismanagement creates a disconnect in promotional activities and damages the reputation of the region’s tourism sector. Moreover, when the prominent space booked by Department of Tourism will remain conspicuous by its absence.
Moreover, the travel trade members raised concerns about the tourism department’s ongoing disregard for their participation in other tourism trade fairs, which are crucial for promoting Kashmir’s rich cultural and natural heritage. The stakeholders firmly believe that these events have been instrumental in attracting visitors and enhancing the region’s tourism profile.They expressed disgust over the treatment meted out to this sector which significantly contributes to States Revenues and demanded constitution of a Tourism Board to overlook its working instead of leaving its working to personnel with little or zero experience of running a Department like Tourism.
They also raised concerns over the cumbersome registration processes in vogue, which drain a lot of time and energy of tourism stakeholders, they mentioned that instead of focussing on their businesses, tourism stakeholders are made to run after office to office for obtaining NOC’s for renewal of registration of their units.
All heads of the travel and tour organisations opined that they would seriously consider attending the events /functions organised by Tourism Department in future.
The participants appealed to the Chief Minister to order a high level enquiry into this episode which is bound to bring to send negative signals about Kashmir Tourism.
The meeting was attended by representatives of KCCI , TASK, KHAROA, UTTA, JKHARA, TAFOK, AKTO, DTOAK, TAAK, ATOAK, KHBOA, PLTOF, TAFI , IATO, TTIG , TTIG, JKTA, ADTOI , PHAROA & HC.
Faiz Bakshi
Secretary General
The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce & Industry INC.
2ND FLOOR, MOHIDIN TRUST BUILDING,
RESIDENCY ROAD, SRINAGAR-KASHMIR-190001
TEL: 0194-2455446/2482176
FAX : 0194: 2452517
E-MAIL : thekashmirchamber@gmail.com
Website : www.thekcci.in
