Srinagar, July 9 (IANS) Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, said on Wednesday that the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar city has the potential to become the hub of corporate activity in Kashmir.

Chief Minister Abdullah has chaired the board meetings of SKICC and Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation (JKTDC) after the boards were reconstituted recently with Chief Minister as the Chairman of both the boards.

He held back-to back board meetings here at SKICC Srinagar.

He presided over the 19th board meeting of SKICC which was attended by Advisor to the Chief Minister Nasir Aslam Wani, Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo, Administrative Secretaries of Finance, Tourism, Director General of Planning, Tourism Director, JKTDC Managing Director and SKICC Director.

The Chief Minister emphasised the need for SKICC to emerge as a prominent place for conferences and other events so that the SKICC is utilised to its optimal level and it is able to earn sufficient revenue to bear its own expenses.

He called upon the SKICC management to employ strategic marketing tools to acquaint corporates and private organisations about this facility which has the potential to be hub of activities all the year round.

The Chief Minister expressed concerned over under-utilisation of SKICC and asked the Tourism department to build a distinct Meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) brand identity for the SKICC so as to utilise this facility.

“It is essential to target corporates, event planners, and government agencies to ensure higher bookings for SKICC and minimise unutilised days. This would help SKICC to augment its revenue,” he said during the meeting.

The Chief Minister also called upon making recoveries of outstanding dues pending with departments, private entities and individuals.

He called for assigning clear roles to the staff and better supervision to get best out of the available human resource.

This was the first board meeting of SKICC after the board was recently reconstituted with Chief Minister as its chairman.

The last board meeting of the SKICC Board had been held in November 2020.

The agenda delved on action taken on decisions of previous board meetings, audit reports, reconciliation of accounts with AG’s office, status of segregation of utilities between SKICC and Centaur Hotel which has been outsourced to Leela Palace and JSW Realty by the Union Territory administration last year, human resource matters and absorption of Centaur Hotel staff in other organisations of Tourism department.

In another meeting, the Chief Minister chaired 95th Board of Directors meeting of the JKTDC and stressed on the need to increase the visibility of JKTDC assets so that tourists and people in general seek accommodation in JKTDC hotels and guest houses earnestly.

He called upon improving the services and facilities in JKTDC properties to enhance the experience of guests so that they prefer to take JKTDC accommodation every time they visit Jammu and Kashmir.

The Chief Minister expressed concern over misuse of JKTDC properties and revenue leakages.

“Every single JKTDC asset be installed with an independent smart meter,” the CM asserted, underlining the need to improve monitoring of JKTDC huts and hotels and to check misuse of assets.

He called upon improving the overnight-stay potential of huts in remote tourist areas.

The Chief Minister gave directions to make maximum number of rooms, including premium ones available for better marketability through Online Travel Aggregators so that JKTDC hotels and huts are used to optimum capacity.

He called for developing JKTDC app for efficient marketing and better accessibility to its services.

The Chief Minister called for audit of assets to evaluate the lacunae and how to improve deficiencies.

The JKTDC management was directed to adopt best practices being followed in the private sector to improve its functioning.

Among various agenda points discussed in JKTDC board meeting, the onboarding of online travel aggregators for marketing and sale of hotel rooms and accomodations, reimbursement of outstanding dues from other departments, revision of rentals of JKTDC accommodation allotted to various departments and organisations, financial statements, unpaid dues of retired officials and action taken on previous board decisions figured prominently.

–IANS

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