‘Tourism on top priority’
Parvez Dewan, the new Secretary, MOT, GoI, struck the right chord with stakeholders in the travel and tourism sector by announcing an aggressive focus on promoting inbound and domestic arrivals.
In the first public appearance after having assumed his new office, Dewan reflected, in his maiden address, the determination to pursue a holistic strategy to usher tourism growth in India.
“We are aggressively working in the direction of giving a boost to both international and domestic tourists,”
he said, as the Guest of Honour in his keynote address at the sixth ADTOI Convention held at SKICC in Srinagar, Kashmir. He also highlighted the various forward and backward linkages between international and domestic tourism. “International tourists, who have visited Ladakh, have opened it to the rest of the world. Today, the State of J&K has
received, over close to 80 per cent growth in tourist arrivals and witnessed above 130 per cent growth in tourists in Ladakh, which marks a historical movement for the state.”
In his address, he also highlighted the role, central financial assistance played in the development of tourism projects in J&K. “I remember during my days in the department of tourism in J&K, many people used to appreciate the fact that our state could pursue projects pertaining to tourism and allied activities.
The chief factor that facilitated revival of tourism in the state had been the continuous flow of central financial assistance. As a matter of fact, the Ministry of Tourism sanctioned over 100 tourism-related projects and approximately ` 365 crore to the state of J&K during the 11th plan period,” said Dewan.
Dewan is an IAS officer from the Jammu & Kashmir cadre of 1977. He took over the new post on October 4, 2012. He had earlier served the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs from December 24, 2011 to September 21, 2012. Earlier, he had also served as the Chairman and Managing Director of ITDC from April 5, 2006 to December 1, 2009.
Dewan’s predecessor, RH Khwaja had assumed charge as Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India in August 2010 from his predecessor Sujit Banerjee and is an IAS from the AP cadre of 1976. He had earlier served as the Special Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India and will now serve the Ministry of Mines.