The visuals of disaster of 2013 were shown repeatedly by some news channels while reporting recent incidents of excessive rainfall in the some parts of the State which gave a wrong message and affected arrival of tourists, said the president of Hotel and Restaurant Association of Uttarakhand, Sandeep Sahani while addressing newsmen here on Sunday.
He said that these visuals and news reports created a false image of ‘Unsafe Uttarakhand’ among the minds of those interested to visit the State.
The President of the association suggested that the state government should devise a mechanism by which a true picture emanates out from the media.
He claimed that the Char Dham Yatra started off on a good note this year but a negative publicity by media on the recent incidences of cloud burst ensured thin presence of Yatris lately.
A delegation of the association also called upon the state Chief Minister Harish Rawat and handed over a memorandum to him.
In the memo the association has advised that all advisory/ incremental weather condition report and information on the Yatra road conditions should be issued to the media only through the media centre established at the secretariat.
The association also suggested ways like launching of an aggressive Safe Uttarakhand campaign, use of social media and appointment of a proper brand ambassador for tourism sector as some of the ways to put a tourist friendly image of Uttarakhand.
The delegation told the CM that the helicopter service to Kedarnath was marred with many problems like late permission, overcharging and overbooking by the aviation companies.
It suggested that availability of helicopter service tickets and their real time online bookings should be done through one single portal like in Vaishnodevi shrine. The association alleged that the charter flights are negatively impacting the economy as they do not contribute to the hill economy.
The delegation also suggested that a ropeway service should be started for Kedarnath shrine and demanded that an all weather road should be constructed so that the Char Dham Yatra is operational, easy and affordable to pilgrims even during monsoon and incremental conditions.