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FICCI’s virtual Tourism Conclave to discuss way forward for travel sector

Prahlad Singh Patel, India’s Minister of State for Tourism and Culture, will inaugurate the two-day ‘FICCI Tourism Conclave’ on July 29. The conclave is being organised with a vision to bring together global thought leaders and key policy makers from the travel & tourism industry under one virtual platform to ideate, interact and share knowledge.

The virtual conclave will create an opportunity for the participants to plan, promote, market, strategise and implement the best practices to revive the business in the sector, post COVID-19, the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) stated.

The FICCI Tourism Committee said it has been actively engaged with the government requesting for relief measures and necessary support for the survival of the industry. But nothing has materialised so far. The Committee has reached out to the industry stakeholders to brainstorm on the measures needed for survival, revival, and the way forward for the industry to thrive in the post COVID era.

The two-day conclave will feature industry leaders and policy makers like Meenakshi Sharma, Director General, Ministry of Tourism; Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism; Vishal Kumar Dev, Commissioner and Secretary, Tourism Department, Sports and Youth Service Department, Govt of Odisha; Anbalagan Ponnusamy, Secretary, Tourism, Govt of Chhattisgarh; Suman Billa, Director, United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Technical Cooperation & Silk Road Development; Dr Jyotsna Suri, Past President, FICCI & Chairperson, FICCI Tourism Committee & CMD, The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group; Sujit Banerjee, Secretary General, WTTCII; Deep Kalra, Founder & Group Executive Chairman, MakeMyTrip; Dhruv Shringi, Co-Founder & CEO, Yatra Inc; Rohit Kapoor, CEO – India & South Asia, Oyo Hotels & Homes; Chef Ranveer Brar, renowned celebrity chef and leaders from other sectors like Tejasvi Surya, Member Of Parliament, Ajay Jadeja, former cricketer, Indian Cricket Team, among others.

The speakers will deliberate on topics like “Future of Travel & Tourism: What lies Ahead”, “Travelling with the Pandemic: A different Perspective”, “Role of Technology & Innovation to revive Travel”,  “Tourism & Emergence of New Workforce model”, “Change in consumer expectation & leveraging the same for demand creation” and many more.

A special session called “Spotlight on hidden tourism jewels of India: Exploring the unexplored tourism potential” will be discussed focusing on Chhattisgarh (Theme state) and Odisha (Partner state). Both the states have already opened their various tourist destinations.

The conclave will also have a special valedictory session featuring state tourism ministers and industry leaders.