PAHALGAM: Minister for Public Works, Naeem Akhtar, Saturday appealed social media users with wide following to leverage their fan following on social media for tourism promotion in the State.
The Minister was speaking at the prize distribution ceremony of the 7th J&K Golfers Association Tournament that was organized on match play format between two teams at Pahalgam Golf Course.
“We have immense tourism potential which has remained untapped due to the negative perception created by certain sections of media. Now-a-days, people are using social media heavily and we should capitalize this media for our benefit and all of us must join this campaign against defaming Kashmir,” said Akhtar.
He said Kashmiris have to win the war of perception by highlighting the reality that people are tourist-friendly, hospitable and the State is also safe for all kinds of tourism.
He congratulated the players for participating in the event and urged the concerned department to organize more such events which help in clearing negative perceptions.
Naeem Akhtar said the State is blessed with the stunning golf courses in Srinagar, Pahalgam and Gulmarg, Jammu and Ladakh that need to be vigorously promoted. He said tourism plays important role in building people-to-people contact.
The Minister said the Government is making all out efforts to build and upgrade infrastructure across the state to attract more and more tourists.
He said that now reaching Anantnag from Srinagar will take less than one hour as the National Highway with all its bye-passes will be ready by September.
VC JKTDC Rafi Mir, Director Tourism Kashmir Mahmood A Shah and other officials were also present on the occasion.
