Heritage hoteliers will now focus more on the domestic tourism market along with events and weddings. This is because foreign tourists are no longer indulging in long-haul vacations due to poor global economy,” said Indian Heritage Hotels Association (IHHA) General Secretary Randhir Vikram Singh while addressing a press conference at the8thIHHA Convention 2019 in Pushkar.
Speaking on the occasion, he said: “Heritage hotels have also become a hotspot for destination weddings and film shootings. Rajasthan can be put on the world map if heritage hoteliers come together to promote not only their heritage hotels but also other elements like natural and built heritage, rural heritage tourism, wedding in heritage hotels, film tourism, etc.” The eighth edition of the Indian Heritage Hotels Association (IHHA) Convention 2019 is themed at ”Recast Indian Heritage Learning from Within”. The Convention was held on September 7 and 8 at Hotel Aaram Bagh Palace in Pushkar. The major focus of the convention this year was on ”Water Conservation”. The convention featured discussions with experts on this issue to encourage hoteliers to come together and promote water conservation, recycling and harvesting. Event managers and domestic travel agents from across the country were invited to the event. Convention Chairman Rajendra Singh Pachar said that the need of the hour is to make heritage hotels iconic to Rajasthan. Heritage hotels should be a symbol of Rajasthan”s culture, customs, festivals, music, among others.
This time Pushkar has been chosen as the venue to showcase it as a large vedic research centre of India. Highlighting the special attractions of the convention this year, the Convention Chairman said that the convention witnessed participation by several experts who spoke on topics such as the New MSME Act, Rajasthan Investment Promotion Scheme (RIPS), relevance of social media for heritage hotels, Sustainability, the art of franchising and being a Maharaja for your region and creating heritage.
Other than this, the Convention also brought to the forefront — looking at natural and rural tourism as an opportunity and development, managing and monetising palaces as well as the role of millennials in the future of heritage hotels. The desert state of Rajasthan is all set to increase the tourist arrivals in the state to 10 crores in the next 5 years, which is almost the double of the number of domestic and foreign tourists arrived in 2018.
