Meeting held to review preparedness of Winter Festivals at Anantnag

ANANTNAG : A meeting was held today under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner (DC) Anantnag, Dr Basharat Qayoom to review the preparations for holding winter festivals at three tourist development authorities falling within the jurisdiction of district Anantnag.

The meeting was attended by JD Planning, CEOs of concerned development authorities and other stakeholders.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Basharat said that winter tourism has been a recent development in Anantnag and there has been a promising flow of tourists in the preceding year and more tourists are expected to visit the district this year.

He said the Winter Festivals to be held this year must be vibrant and include crowd pulling events. He said detailed planning exercises must be initiated and the public should be notified of the events in time. He further stressed on leveraging social media to highlight tourist destinations and attract tourist crowds.

The DC said that tourism is central to the economy of these development authorities and facilitation of tourists should be the first priority. He said that information regarding hotel availability, notified rates for transport and ponies, and details of other available amenities must be widely publicised through various media.

The meeting was attended by JD Planning, CEO KDA/VDA, CEO PDA as well as stakeholders from Pahalgam and Kokernag associated with the hospitality industry.