Sarmad Hafeez reviews vaccination drive for Tourism officials, stakeholders

Srinagar: Secretary, Tourism & Culture, Sarmad Hafeez reviewed the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations being undertaken by various units of the Tourism Department and stakeholders in Jammu & Kashmir in a high level meeting of officers here today.

During the meeting, the Tourism Secretary asked for line listing of all the staff and stakeholders at various tourist destinations for smooth vaccination in coming days. He asked the CEOs of various Tourism development authorities and Directorate of Tourism, Kashmir to work in a coordinated manner to achieve the optimal results in this regard.

The Tourism Secretary was informed that the officials of Directorate of Tourism, Srinagar, TRC, Srinagar and Jammu and SKICC have taken the first jab of the vaccine already. In case of the tourism stakeholders like houseboat owners, hoteliers, guest house owners, shikarawallas, tourist guides etc., line listing is being done through their representative organizations, he was informed.

Mr. Sarmad Hafeez also underscored the need for devising modules for capacity building for stakeholders in view of the COVID pandemic and the various SoPs to be followed while doing business after the pandemic recedes. In this regard, he advised the Tourism Department to tie up with some acclaimed agencies in capacity building for deriving the desired results.

MD, JKTDC, Nisar Ahmad Wani; Director, Tourism, Kashmir, Dr. G N Itoo; CEOs of Golf and several Development Authorities besides officers of Tourism Department were present in the meeting.