Rafique Aziz
Aurangabad:
The tourism industry in Aurangabad is gasping for a fresh lease of life after the pandemic situation. The stakeholders, service providers and associates are struggling for their survival and help retrieve the situation for the past many months.
It may be noted that the 38th annual convention of the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) is scheduled to be held in the city in September 2023. Hence, the tourism associates unitedly voiced the promotion of Aurangabad (the Tourism Capital of Maharashtra) in a big way to recoup the recession the industry is facing since the pandemic situation. The aggressive marketing and promotion will help increase foreign tourist arrivals on a permanent basis. They also stressed the need of developing familiarity with lesser-known destinations and other important sites other than Ajanta and Ellora Caves.
The president of Aurangabad Tourism Development Foundation (ATDF) Jaswant Singh,” Through IATO thousands of tour operators from all over the country will get a chance to explore the city. The inbound tour package designers from Delhi will also be able to see the real development of Aurangabad. This will help market Aurangabad destination across the globe. Hence the global presence of the city will help to attract lakhs of foreign tourists which is sadly around 70,000 every year. The influx of foreign tourists and momentum in the footfall of domestic tourists will lead to economic growth, create job avenues and witness ‘Ache Din’ for our tourism industry. We are also hoping to get momentum to MICE tourism as well.”
There are many heritage places, apart from world heritage sites Ajanta Caves and Ellora Caves, like Daulatabad Fort, Bibi ka Maqbara and Panchakki, apart from a spree of lesser-known places and sites in the district. The two years of the pandemic situation, however, pushed the tourism industry to suffer a lot.
Adds the president of the Travel Agents Association of Aurangabad (TAAA) Ashutosh Badwe,“There is a dire need to have strong willpower amongst all of us to advertise, publicise and market Aurangabad on different platforms. We hope the IATO conference will help recoup the losses suffered during the pandemic situation and retrieve the business as it was before Covid-19. The growth in businesses will be gradual, but help the city promote and market in a big way across the globe and in all corners of the country, hereafter.”
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Maiden event to work wonders
The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC, Mumbai) general manager Chandrashekar Jaiswal said, “Maharashtra will be hosting the IATO annual convention for the second time after 2012 (28th in Mumbai) in magnetic city Aurangabad (38th in 2023). It instils a big confidence in the ‘Travel Trade’ of our state. Aurangabad’s tourism is all set to burgeon to a newer level with a much-awaited flip. It shall be the responsibility of all of us together as the inhabitants of this city to frontline the best we have, create an ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ feel, and ensure it's ultra clean. The badges the tourism capital of state wears of being a tourist-friendly; hospitable travel trade and safe and secured tourist city will yet again receive, a stimulus, to make our tourism products known the world over through the IATO convention.”