JAMMU: School of Hospitality and Tourism Management (SHTM), University of Jammu in collaboration with Directorate of Tourism, Jammu organised a Heritage Walk –Chalachal Musafir on “Fête du Tourisme” on the occasion of World Tourism Day 2014.
The theme of this year’s World Tourism Day is “Tourism and Community Development”.
The Heritage Walk was flagged off by the Chief Guest, Soujanya Sharma, Director, Tourism Jammu and Guest of Honour, Kalyan Singh Parihar, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Prof. Pankaj Srivastava, Dean Students Welfare, University of Jammu, Prof. Parikshat Singh Manhas Director SHTM, University of Jammu, Baldev Khullar, President Raghunath Bazar Businessmen Association and Jammu Heritage Society, Bharat Choudhary from KC Industries, Anil Gour, Master Tours and Travels were also present on the occasion.
The students of SHTM commenced the walk from upper Gummat gate and culminated it at Mubarak Mandi and explained the various heritage enroute which helped in creating awareness of that particular area to all participants as well as the locals.
Prof. Parikshat informed that this walk is an attempt not only to create awareness among the masses about historicity of areas but it will also help the students to generate intimacy and association with available historic settlements.
Prof. Parikshat informed that the theme ‘Tourism and Community Development’ attempts to highlight the role of tourism in contributing to one of the building blocks of a more sustainable future i.e Community Development.
Soujanya said that efforts should be made at improving businesses related to local tourism in ways that create more job opportunities and services for the local community. Raghunath Bazar Businessmen Association and Jammu Heritage society welcomed the students enroute the walk at Raghunath Bazar Chowk where they honoured Soujanya Sharma, Kalyan Singh Parihar, Prof. Pankaj Srivastava, Prof. Parikshat Singh Manhas and Bharat Choudhary.
In the introductory speech, Baldev Khullar mentioned the importance of various Heritage buildings and also highlighted the deteriorating conditions of Mubarak Mandi complex and Raghunath Mandir and the adjoining heritage. He further specified that immediate preservation actions should be taken to conserve these valuable buildings for future generations and for cultural sustainability.
During the event, the students including Padmini, Radhika, Tina, Himika, Manasvi, Nakul, Mannat, Rajesh (students of MBA-HT and BBA-HM) from SHTM also performed a “Nukkad Natak” to generate awareness among the locals to preserve the heritage and maintain cleanliness at the heritage spots.
The coordinators of the event were Dr. Anil Gupta, Assistant Professor and Dr. Suvidha Khanna, Assistant Professor, SHTM. The event was sponsored by Federation of Indian blood donor organisations, KC Industries and Surya milk.
