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Use Sher-i- Kashmir int’l convention centre to boost tourism revenue: Omar Abdullah
It is essential to target corporates, event planners and government agencies to ensure higher bookings for SKICC and minimise unutilised days, the CM said
Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday urged for the use of Sher-i- Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) for MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) tourism, expressing concern over under-utilisation of the facility.
Abdullah chaired the board meetings of SKICC and Jammu & Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation (JKTDC) after the boards were reconstituted recently with the CM as chairman.
He called upon the SKICC management to employ strategic marketing tools to acquaint corporates and private organisations about this facility which has the potential to be hub of activities all the year round and earn sufficient revenue to bear it’s own expenses.
“It is essential to target corporates, event planners and government agencies to ensure higher bookings for SKICC and minimise unutilised days,” the CM said during the meeting.
In another meeting, the chief minister chaired the 95th board of directors meeting of the J&KTDC and stressed on the need to increase the visibility of its assets so that tourists and people in general seek accommodation in its hotels and guest houses earnestly.
He called upon improving the services and facilities in JKTDC properties to enhance the experience of guests.
The CM expressed concern over misuse of JKTDC properties and revenue leakages. “Every single JKTDC asset should be installed with an independent smart metre,” the CM asserted, underlining the need to improve monitoring of JKTDC huts and hotels and to check misuse of assets. He called upon improving the overnight-stay potential of huts in remote tourist areas.
The CM gave directions to make the maximum number of rooms including premium ones available for better marketability through online travel aggregators so that JKTDC hotels and huts are used to optimum capacity. He called for developing the JKTDC App for efficient marketing and better accessibility to its services.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah is likely to call on his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee at the eastern state’s secretariat on July 10, a senior official said on Wednesday.
During the “courtesy meet”, as described by the state bureaucrats, the two leaders will likely hold discussions on the strategies of the opposition for the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament.
Incidentally, this would be the first meeting between the two CMs since the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 people were killed.
