Tourist activities with emphasis on bird-watching and adventure sports will be organised to revive the state tourism industry, the mainstay of Uttarakhand's economy, which was hit hard by the calamity last year, Chief Minister Harish Rawat today said.
"Nature has gifted Uttarakhand with everything that tourists all over the world look for, a Himalayan location, highest number of bird species anywhere in the country, our rich rural art and crafts especially our traditions in crafting wooden artefacts.
"All we need is an effective marketing strategy to hardsell what we have," Rawat said addressing a function here to mark the World Tourism Day.
Announcing a slew of measures to revive tourism which he said is the "biggest challenge" before the government, the chief minister said bird-watching will be linked to tourism and a two-day tourism festival will be held in Tehri on October 9 and 10 to bring Tehri lake on to the world tourism map.
Massive flash-floods triggered by a cloudburst had wreaked havoc in the state last year cutting off connectivity to other places for months.
"We are a small state but we can do better; we will have to work with this feeling to resuscitate tourism," he said.
He said the message of a safe Uttarakhand has gone out to the rest of the world with the successful conduct of the Char Dham and Nanda Devi Raj Jat Yatras this year but a lot more needs to be done to showcase the state's tourism potential in other fields by promoting activities like bird-watching, mountain biking and community tourism.
A 'rhododendron day' (Buransh Diwas) will be celebrated in the state next year to send out a message across the world that the best rhododendrons are found in Uttarakhand, he said.
Buransh (a kind of rhododendron) is Uttarakhand's state flower.
