Press Release
The Government stands committed to protect and preserve the rich heritage of Shekhawati region. The wanton destruction of havelis and defacement of the famous wall paintings (frescoes) will not be tolerated. This was stated by Chairman of RTDC, Mr. Dharmendra Rathore while speaking in a session on the resurgence of Shekhawati as the destination of future at the Rajasthan Domestic Travel Mart. Mr. Rathore categorically said that the systematic destruction of havelis needs to be stopped. He further said that two fold action will be taken: the first being to implement administratively which can be done without changing the law and the second being where the law needs to be changed. He also informed that the Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot has already been apprised of the situation. He also said that shortly a meeting will be convened for Shekhawati region with the Chief Minister, senior officers as well as stakeholders of tourism of the region. He also said that it is disturbing to observe that people are migrating from villages to cities and also to the fields. With the result the villages are getting empty and need to be protected. Mr. Rathore also thanked the Chief Minister for declaring tourism as an industry and earmarking Rs 1000 crores for its development.
Earlier, President Emeritus of Indian Heritage Hotels Association, Mr. Gaj Singh Jodhpur also said in the same session that tourists come to Shekhawati for seeing its heritage. High priority must be given by the Government to protect the heritage of the region and the State. He also urged for infrastructure development to promote tourism in the State. This session was moderated Dr. Shruti Poddar.
GRAND OPENING OF RDTM
The exhibition, which is displaying as many as 200 tourism products , was inaugurated by Principal Secretary Tourism, Ms Gayatri Rathore; President Emeritus, Indian Heritage Hotels Association (IHHA), Mr Gaj Singh; President, FHTR, Mr Apurv Kumar; Director of Tourism, Ms Rashmi Sharma . Post the opening , the Principal Secretary of Tourism also took a round of all the stalls and expressed her satisfaction with the mega travel mart.
On the occasion, she said: “I am simply amazed to see the gusto and eagerness among the buyers and sellers at this event. Some outstanding tourism products are on sale while a large number of tour operators are having pre-structured meetings with them. I am sure this event will translate into a huge increase in tourist footfalls in the State.”
President, FHTR, Mr Apurv Kumar said: “Our hard work of the past couple of months has proved to be a success looking at the active participation and networking between buyers and sellers. This mart was hugely important to promote domestic tourism to overcome the situation created by the pandemic. As we all know, tourism has taken the biggest hit. We are now confident of the revival of this employment generating sector.”
Almost all leading hotels, resorts and the Department of Tourism have set up their stalls . Over 4000 pre-structured B2B meetings took place informed the Chairman of the RDTM, Mr Khalid Khan.
Two other sessions were also held under the knowledge hall which evoked tremendous interest among the participants.
In the first session, Shri Amitava Bhattacharya, Founder & Director, Contact Base spoke about Intangible Cultural Heritage in his session.
Later, in the next session, Dr. Abhay Sinha, DG SEPC, talked about Opportunities and Challenges in Inbound Tourism and the role of SEPC (Services Export Promotion Council) and its services in this sector.