A Curtain Raiser including a joint Press Conference was organized at The Taj Mahal Hotel in Lucknow on 12th March which was addressed by the Minister of Tourism & Culture of Uttar Pradesh Mr. Jaiveer Singh, Principal Secretary & DG Tourism-GoUP Mr. Mukesh Kumar Meshram, Director, Tourism Mr. Prakhar Mishra and the Chair of FICCI’s Tourism Committee Mr. Prateek Hira.
Minister Jaiveer Singh said that through this event the state of UP intends to be number one in foreign tourist arrivals as it ranks first in domestic tourism. He informed that the state is the most safe and secure for tourists and in terms of infrastructure, we have developed as no other state has. He added that the state of UP is where God’s were born and have dwelt so the state through the upcoming UPTM will showcase its true tourism potential to the world.
Mukesh Kr. Meshram gave details of how the state is unleashing the potential in all the heritage sites and how the PPP model is working for the benefit of the state. This is the time to showcase the state to the world and leverage the power of tourism through UPTM. The State Government is all set to welcome tour operators from around the world. He added that UP Tourism’s Policy is such that all stand to benefit from it and through the 6th UPTM by FICCI this message too will be put across.
FICCI’s Tourism Committee Chairman, Prateek Hira gave a keynote and a synopsis of the upcoming event which will host more than 150 delegates from all across the world including Foreign Tour Operators, Domestic Operators, Travel Writers and Bloggers. He informed that all hosted buyers will be taken for a familiarization trip to the Buddhist and Eco-Tourism sites of the state. Ayodhya too will be included in the FAM trip. A few interactive sessions too have been planned apart from the B2B meetings at this Travel Mart.
Prateek Hira further said that FICCI’s strong presence in the tourism domain and its experience in organizing successful travel marts around India in most of the Indian states will be an advantage for UP. 5 UPTM’s have been very successful in the past and now after the pandemic break, revival of UPTM in its 6th edition is going to be a catalyst to increase the footfall of tourists in the state of Uttar Pradesh that has so many positive changes that need to be showcased to the world. Prateek Hira has been associated with UPTM from its inception in 2014 and now in the capacity of Chairman of FICCI’s Tourism Committee in UP he has a greater role and responsibility to oversee the 6th edition of the mart this year. Hira commented “The change that UP has seen in the last four years after the 5th edition of UPTM was held here in 2019 is commendable, and it’s time now to invite the foreign and domestic operators to show them all of it” He also laid stress on seeing tourism as a soft power rather than just as an economic activity.
Director Tourism of Uttar Pradesh Mr, Prakhar Misra delivered the Vote of Thanks and spoke about how UP as a state is empowering the travel trade and private sector to harness the full potential of tourism in Uttar Pradesh. He called for full support of the trade in Uttar Pradesh for a successful UPTM from the 25th to the 29th of April 2024 being organized in Gorakhpur, very close to Kushinagar.
Travel & Hospitality trade is quite excited by the news of UPTM being revived from this year and so are the foreign operators who haven’t seen the state of Uttar Pradesh after 2019, the year when UPTM was last held. Since 2019 the state of Uttar Pradesh has changed quite a bit in terms of new infrastructure, facilities and product offering.
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