Chief Minister, Government of Uttar Pradesh, Shri Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the 53rd Federation of Hotels & Restaurant Association of India’s (FHRAI) Annual Convention 2018, the most sought-after event in the hospitality industry that started on September 20, 2018 and ended on September 22, 2018.
While speaking at the occasion, Shri Adityanath said “Uttar Pradesh provides immense opportunities in the sector of Spiritual & Wellness Tourism. Government of UP is seeking investments of Rs 5,000 crore each year from the tourism Industry. Through the collective effort and awareness generated by such conventions, such as the FHRAI, Government of UP, has already received proposals worth Rs 2,500 crore from the hospitality sector.”
Mr Garish Oberoi, president , FHRAI said, “The state of Uttar Pradesh is rich with tourism alternatives, especially for the spiritually and religiously inclined. We are pleased to announce to all our hotel and restaurant members, the 53rd FHRAI Annual Convention, the single largest business & networking platform in the hospitality sector. It’s an interactive and action-oriented platform for the hospitality industry to brainstorm on the various policies and programs affecting the sector”
Mr Surinder Kumar Jaiswal, Chairman for the Convention Committee, continued, “Through the convention, we are also promoting the state of Utter Pradesh along with the host of the state's spiritual and tourism opportunities as well as the iconic Kumbh Mela, which is taking place at Allahabad in from January 2019 to March 2019. We also will be highlighting “one district, one product scheme” the flagship initiative of the UP Government”.
The second day of the 53rd Annual Convention of Federation of Hotels & Restaurant Association of India’s (FHRAI), 2018, started with Mr K J Alphons, Hon’ble Minister of State for Tourism, Government of India, addressing over 1000 Hoteliers and Restaurateurs on the theme “Spiritual & Wellness Tourism”. Mr Alphons said, "We lack perfection and that is what we need to strive for. FTAs have gone up by 14 per cent. In the past 4.5 years additional 14.62 million jobs have been created through tourism. Even as India offers some of the best hospitality practices, we still need to adopt certain global practices, for example we should ensure that we usher the guests into restaurants"
The Convention had its third and final day on 22nd September 2018 in Lucknow.
Mr. Harish Chandra, Director - IT, Sarovar Hotels Pvt Ltd spoke of the alignment of IT for the Hospitality sector in his session, “How Traditional Hotels Should Survive in Modern World”.
While speaking at the FHRAI Hospitality Awards, Chief Guest Dr. Dinesh Sharma, Hon’ble Deputy Chief Minister, Government of Uttar Pradesh, said, "There are different types of Tourism in India — Eco, Spiritual, Heritage, Ayurveda & Yoga, and based on these some states like Kerala have performed exceptionally well in grooming their tourism Industry and generating revenues. UP Government too has been working on improving Connectivity — both Infrastructure and Digital, across the state to attract investments in Travel and Hospitality segments" Speaking of Development of tourism hubs, which prominently comprise Ramayan Circuit, Buddhist Circuit, Krishna Circuit, Sufi Circuit, that have diversified the scope of Spiritual Tourism in the State, he further added, "We want to set up such an example in our state that our hotels & tourism business becomes the foremost sign of development of UP".
The speeches were followed by the coveted Annual FHRAI Awards, which, in turn, were followed by a cultural evening performance by the renowned Bollywood singer, Shibani Kashyap.