ECO-Tourism
CM lauds initiatives of HPTDC in promoting tourism
Chief Minister, Shri Virbhadra Singh said that the Government was making earnest efforts to exploit tourism potential of the state to its full. He said that appropriate infrastructure was being developed to attract more domestic and foreign tourists besides increasing the hotel occupancy and providing them with all best possible facilities.
Chief Minister was presiding over the Board of Directors Meeting of Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC), here today. He said that the corporation was doing a commendable job in promoting tourism industry and ensuring that the State remains a premier tourist destination in the country as well as all over the world.
Shri Virbhadra Singh said the corporation had earned profit during the current financial year, adding that the income of the corporation was Rs. 75 crore against the expenditure of Rs.72 crore, thereby registering gross profit of rupees three crore. The profit target for the year 2013-14 had been fixed at Rs. six crore which was almost double of this years profit. He said that the initiatives taken by the corporation were laudable to increase its earnings and thereby contribute towards the State’s economy.
The test run for providing Wi-Fi facilities in HPTDC volvo buses on Delhi-Manali and Delhi-Shimla routes was a welcome step as it would provide internet facilities to the commuters on their mobiles, I-pods and laptops, said the Chief Minister.
Principal Secretary, HPTDC, Sh. V.C. Pharka said that to boost tourism in the State the corporation had signed MoU’s with Delhi and Goa Tourism to book each others properties and further tie-up was being finalized with other States like Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan so that more and more people from these states visits such places and vice-versa.
Sh. Pharka said that HPTDC had collected data base of more than 80000 mobile users and e-mail ID’s of tourists and travel agents for bulk SMS and e-mail campaigns for promotion of tourism. The corporation was also exploring possibilities of social media marketing through twitter and face book etc. He said that the search engine optimization had been started by
Subscribing to Google marketing web-tools for ensuring better presence of HPTDC website on Goggle search Engine.
Managing Director-cum-Director, HPTDC, Shri Subhasish Panda detailed about the various facilities and initiatives being taken by the corporation to make it a profit-earning unit. He said that the corporation had introduced many new packages for tourists visiting the State. The packages would benefit and promote religious, adventure and heritage tourism and special honeymoon packages, toy train packages etc. would go a long way in attracting more tourist arrivals and their longer stay in the State.
Sh. Panda said that the corporation had fixed a target of earning Rs. 86 crore in 2013-14 and restrict its expenditure to Rs. 80 crore to make the corporation financially strong and viable.
Sh. Manish Garg, Secretary Finance, Sh. Yogesh Behl, General Manger HPTDC and other officers were also present on the occasion.
ECO-Tourism
Himachal to Set up 100 Swachhta Cafés Worth Rs. 10 Crore to Promote Traditional Cuisine, Collect Tonnes of Single-Use Plastic
Shimla-Swachhta cafe would be set up in Himachal Pradesh with an estimated cost of around Rs. 10 crores by the year 2023. The State Government would set up around 100 such cafes. Ten such “Swachhta Café” would be set up at important locations of the state with an estimated cost of rupees one crore with a target to collect 25 tonnes of single-use plastic items from different parts of the state by end of this financial year.
It was informed by Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Virender Kanwar recently.
Under this “Swachta Café” program, plastic waste will be purchased from the ragpickers, individuals collecting waste from households and urban local bodies at Rs. 75 per kilogram in exchange for food or other eatable items to motivate the ragpickers and individuals to keep their surroundings clean.
The Swachhta cafe will be constructed under “Village Haat Scheme” where women will be facilitated to sell medicinal plants, such as giloye, peppermint, powder of neem leaves and homemade pickles, murabba, wheat flour, pulses, spices and vegetable vat reasonable prices.
The women running the Swachhta Cafe will be given training in the hospitality sector to enable them to cook popular traditional cuisine to maintain original flavour and taste of the dishes. Around 100 such women will be trained by the hospitality experts during the current financial year, he informed.
He further informed that a target has been fixed to train around five thousand women belonging to self-help groups in the next three years in the hospitality sector to run these cafes.
The first Swachhta Café was inaugurated at Gram Panchayat Radiali in Nalagarh area in Solan, which is to be run by women self-help groups and another cafe would be opened at Naggar in Kullu Districts. Under the scheme, if a person brings more plastic waste then he can use the surplus money for dining in next time in the cafe.
Minister said that the programme aims that villages are made completely free of single-use plastic in coming years and the entire state will be covered under the scheme in a phased manner in coming years.
Shimla-Himachal Pradesh Tourism Department will organise ‘Tourism Festival’ on the occasion of Makar Sakranti on January 14, 2020, at Tattapani. It would be organised in collaboration with district Mandi Administration. This was disclosed by Director Tourism Department Yunus while presiding a meeting today.
He said that the objective of organizing this tourism festival is to promote Tattapani as a tourist destination. He said that for first-time tourism festival was being organised at Tattapani to make it tourism destination for Indian and Foreign tourists.
He informed that during this event, Water Sports, Satluj Aarti and cultural programmes would also be organised. On this occasion, 1100 kilogram’ Khichari’ would also be cooked and it would be especially cooked in a single utensil, he added.
This is for the first time in Himachal Pradesh that Khichari would be cooked in such large quantity and will be served to about 12,000 to 15,000 people. Special buses would also be plied by the Transport Department to reach Tattapani Tourism Festival from Mandi and Shimla on Makar Sakranti.
SDM Karsog, District Tourism Officer Mandi, representatives of NTPC, HPTDC, Language, Art and Culture Department and Tattapani Panchayat participated in the meeting among others.
The design of the project is based on the detailed baseline data, a study conducted of 324 sites in 12 districts of the state, suggestions obtained from about 90,000 tourists.
Shimla: The Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India has approved a tourism infrastructure development project worth about Rs. 1900 crores to be funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for development of tourism infrastructure in the urban and rural areas of Himachal Pradesh.
With the help of this ADB funded project, the state would develop tourism in rural, unexplored areas and improve the infrastructure of the towns and also generate employment for the local youths and showcase Himachal as the best natural tourist destination state, the State Government informed.
Additional Chief Secretary, Tourism Ram Subhag Singh further informed the project would be completed in eight years.
The project is supposed to focus on diversification of tourism to new and rural areas by developing tourism infrastructure, create livelihood and employment opportunities through rural, adventure and ecotourism.
The project also mentions the application of innovative models like incentive-based mechanisms for community-based tourism activities, augmentation of services like water supply, sewerage, solid waste, skill development related to the tourism sector, advertising and marketing etc.
He claimed it would be one of the finest examples of sustainable tourism in the Himalayan States.
The project will have both hard and soft components and will include beautification of towns, development of unexplored areas, conservation and restoration of heritage buildings, infrastructure development in adventure, eco, rural tourism with an emphasis on community participation and employment generation.
The design of the project is based on the detailed baseline data, a study conducted of 324 sites in 12 districts of the state and suggestions obtained from about 90,000 tourists and designed in line with sustainable tourism guideline for the Himalayan States.
The Union Ministry of Tourism, Union Ministry of Housing and Urban affairs and Niti Ayog have also supported the project for tourism development in Himachal, it was informed.
The Government said the Department of Economic Affairs was satisfied with the performance and progress of the State on the ongoing ADB funded project of about Rs.600 crores.
A young leader’s activism combined with the concept of ‘Himachaliyat’ and ‘Virbhadra Singh Vikas Model’ may be a gamechanger for the Congress in Himachal
Paradox in Hatti Community’s Demand for Tribal Status
HP Govt Employees to Get Higher Pay Scale on Completion of Two Years of Service: CM Jairam
Most Covid Restrictions to be Lifted From March 31, Mask and Hand Hygiene to Continue
Home Decor Ideas 2020