Kochi will witness a major tourism convention and expo, to be attended by hundreds of hotel and restaurant groups from across the country on Thursday.
Union Minister of State for Tourism K Chiranjeevi will inaugurate the convention to be organised by the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) at Hotel Le Meridian in the city. Eminent speakers will attend various sessions. Vipul Mitra, Principal Secretary (Tourism), Government of Gujarat, Bhupendra Singh Bhalla, Administrator - Daman Diu Dadra Nagar Haveli, Arvind Jadhav, Additional Chief Secretary (Tourism), Government of Karnataka, Parimal Rai, Principal Secretary (Tourism), Government of Goa will discuss the hastening the pace of growth of tourism in the region. Ni t in Put cha , VP - Operations, ITMFHRAI Institute of Hotel Management, will give a presentation on Fulfilling Demands for Hospitality.
Advocate Jaywanth of the Kerala High Court will speak on service tax and V Pasupathy will give an update on the implementation of the Food Safety And Standards Act, 2006, (FSSAI). B M Gupta, Chief Financial Officer, Tourism Finance Corporation of India (TFCI), Vijay P Thacker, director - Crowe Horwath Hotel Consultants and Ashish Jakhanwala, Director SAMHI Fund, will discuss Innovative financing of Hotels and Restaurants. There will be a presentation on Insurance. The discussion on Culinary Innovations: Recipe for Success with Chef Manish Mehrotra is another attraction.
The key issue of People Management Empower, Enable and Engage will be addressed by Rustom Vesavevala, vice-president - Learning and Development, Taj Group of Hotels and Jeevan Bhaktavar, vice-president - Human Resources, Leela Group of Hotels. The convention ends on Friday with a valedictory address by Parvez Dewan, Secretary, Ministry Of Tourism, and Anand Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism.
An open house with tourism secretaries of various state governments and office-bearers of the FHRAI will be held. The theme of the convention is ‘Sustainable and Responsible Tourism’. It’s the first time the convention is being held in Kerala. Parliamentary Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture chairman Sitaram Yechuri, state Tourism Minister Anil Kumar and Karnataka Tourism Minister R V Deshpande will attend the inaugural function.