India International Hotel Travel and Tourism Research Conference, organized by Banarsidas Chandiwala Institute of Hotel Management & Catering Technology from 16th to 17th February, 2018 was inaugurated with lamp lighting by Chief Guest, Chef Manjit Gill, President – Indian Federation of Culinary Associations (IFCA), the Guest of Honour, Mr. Abhishek Biswas, Founder, Sattvik India Council, Prof. Azilah Kasim, Director, Langkawi International Tourism and Hospitality, Utara University, Malaysia, Dr. Bhupesh Kumar, President IIHTTRC & Director, BCIHMCT, Mr. Pradeep Gupta, Dy. Director Administration, BCIHMCT and Mr. Alok Aswal, Convenor, IIHTTRC. The annual Hospitality & Tourism Research Journal – “Indian Journal of Applied Hospitality & Tourism Research”, Vol. 10, (ISSN 0975-4954), indexed with ISRA and ISBN Book – “Indian Travel, Tourism &Hospitality Research: A Global Insight” were released during the inauguration ceremony.
Chef Manjit Gill in his speech informed the immense scope of developing Culinary Heritage to promote tourism in the country. He mentioned need for researching on Millennial’s travel preferences and attitudes, scope of development in context of single woman traveler, responsible tourism, energy conservation and role of mobile phone in tourism promotion. Chef mentioned the importance of promoting role of food in attracting the tourists, how to make the food healthy so that the industry can grow and attract tourists.
Mr. Abhishek Biswas exuberated his enthusiasm for educating the delegates about the vision and mission of the Council said, “Seeing the future of food retail in India which is promising but totally unorganized, specially the Vegetarian food certification levels, we have put up a research team and collaborated with agencies and hospitality educational institutes and universities (BCIHMCT being one of them) and launched the World’s First Vegetarian Food Certification program – “SATTVIK INDIA COUNCIL” in early 2017. It was high time that India had to have it’s their own certification, as we have our own challenges like street food, therefore a certification designed in India will fulfill the gap in the food business”. He encouraged the youth to undergo six months training and become a certified Sattvik Counselor after their Hotel Management degree making them a very sought after industry professional having the knowledge of food certification.
Prof. Azilah Kasim delivered a Keynote speech on “Water Management in Hotels: What leadership quality is required?”. She discussed about how to uncover the influence of firm characteristics to hotels’ environmental responsiveness, the influence of environmental knowledge level on environmental responsiveness, and the influence of financial resources to environmental commitment. Prof Kazim said, “An important parameter for innovative water management responses is ‘willingness’ of the managers– the willingness to change, to adopt environmentally friendly behavior and to allocate resources towards an innovative environmental management.
Dr. Bhupesh Kumar, Director, BCIHMCT, thanking all dignitaries, delegates, paper presenters and sponsors said, “A Conference is an occasion to discuss issues of mutual interest and concern during the Keynote and Technical Sessions. Such initiatives have immense potential to generate ideas and concepts that can create a momentum for Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Sector. One of the unique and valuable dimensions to the IIHTTRC conference series is the way the series brings Industry Managers, Tourism and Hospitality Researchers together from around the world to deliberate on the issues related to the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality research to meet the needs of future while profiling the current and emerging trends, challenges and issues that are being faced by Hospitality and Tourism Operators in a high-growth business environment.
A vote of thanks was given by Mr. Alok Aswal, Convener IIHTTRC 2017 at the end of the inauguration ceremony.
The themes of the four technical sessions during the two day conference were Sustainability in Tourism & Hospitality; Contemporary Issues & Trends in Hospitality & Tourism; Cultural Impact on Hospitality & Tourism and Human Behaviour and HR practices in Hospitality
& Tourism. There were about 54 papers submitted for the conference out of which 43 papers were accepted and 38 papers were presented during the conference. Best Aspiring Researcher Award was given to Ms. Trina Deka; Best Paper Award was given to Ms. Shweta Chandra and Best Research Paper Award was given to Dr. Shelly Duggal.
Keynote on “Strategizing Growth: Increasing FTA and Domestic Tourism” was given by Prof (Dr.) Nimit Chowdhary, Professor and HOD, Department of Tourism, Hotel, Hospitality and Heritage Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi on the morning of February 17. He explained how FTA, FEE, Global ranking of the country have increased since last one year. Quoting Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Ayog, Dr. Chowdhary mentioned, “We should use our culture as a soft power to make our country a super power. We should find our roots, traditional techniques, and traditional art forms. We should identify traditional products and change them to tourism products”. He explained that tourists come to see what different experience India has to offer, Being Indian is our strength and only we can sell it best. He emphasized on making destinations market ready, incorporating “Destination Incubation” and understanding the requirements of local tourists and domestic tourists.
‘Kathputli’ the Rajasthani themed dinner was organized by the students of Banarsidas Chandiwala Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology for the conference delegates on 16th February, 2018. A cultural performance comprising of Rajasthani Song, Rajasthani Dance, and live music and song performance was organised for the conference delegates.
The event was supported by Sattvik India Council.
