Saarc set to form tour operators' platform
Says tourism minister
Tourism ministers of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) have decided to form an association comprising of tour operators of its all member countries to promote South Asia as a single tourism brand in the world.
“We have decided to build a common platform of tour operators of all eight Saarc member countries to make combined tour packages to promote our exciting tourist destinations as a single brand,” Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister G M Quader told the news agency yesterday.
The decision was made at the last Saarc tourism ministerial meeting held in Katmandu middle of this month.
During the meeting, Quader said all the tourism ministers of the region opined that South Asia should be branded as a whole as a global tourism package.
The meeting revealed that now 10 million tourists are visiting Saarc countries - Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka- while global movement is above one billion tourists per year.
Promotion of the Saarc region as a common tourist destination by enhancing the role of the private sector, human resource development, promotion of the South Asian identity through tourism, development of cultural and eco- tourism were also discussed in the meeting.
They also discussed the possibility of launching joint marketing campaigns, softening visa regime, giving access to cross-border driving licenses and increasing inter-Saarc movement by air by the national flag carrier of each country, the tourism minister said.
The region's share of the tourism revenue is only 10 billion US dollar out of one trillion businesses from global tourism.
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