SHIMLA 23rd February 2012 : Himachal Pradesh has been conferred with the ever highest honour of ‘National Tourism Award’ instituted by the Union Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation and will be presented by Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, President of India, at an impressive function being organized at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, on February, 29, 2012. This was revealed by Prof. Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, on getting the invitation to receive the Award from the President of India, here today. It is 57th Award in the row during past four years and 24th in Tourism Sector alone.
Chief Minister thanked the Union Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation for selecting Himachal Pradesh for the prestigious Award to be given by the President of India. He dedicated the Award to the people of Himachal Pradesh, especially to those connected with tourism and hospitality industry in the State. He said that it was due to the hard work put in by tourism industry in the State that its efforts had been lauded by the Government of India. He appreciated the efforts put in by the State Department of Tourism and Civil Aviation in giving new directions to the Tourism Sector during past four years which had won State record 24 prestigious Awards He said that Tourism happened to be the core industry since the State had vast natural potential for exploitation for tourism promotion. He said that the State had taken a number of new initiatives to give boost to tourism activities in the State which included revamping of tourism activities to meet present day requirements of the tourists. He said that the State had successfully implemented the ‘Home Stay’ scheme and roped in villagers in rural tourism promotion while ‘Har Gaon Ki Kahani’ was next step to take tourism to the villages and involve maximum people in tourism promotion activities.
Prof. Dhumal said that the state had received tourists double to its population during preceding financial year and the number was likely to rise further by the end of current financial year. He said that besides strengthening the existing tourism infrastructure the State Government was endeavouring to create facilities for the high end tourists by associating professionally and financially competent partners. He said that the State had created a quality infrastructure of way-side amenities to cater to the requirements of tourists and a number of tourism circuits were under implementation to further strengthen Tourism. He said that with the conferment of the National Award was testimony that Himachal Pradesh had always been a choicest destination to the nature lovers and tourists within and outside the country. He said that inspired by the achievements, the Tourism Industry would upgrade its services to the tourists so that more people visit Himachal Pradesh.
