By OUR STAFF REPORTER
DEHRADUN, 27 Sep: On the occasion of World Tourism Day, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami inaugurated the second and final day of the Uttarakhand Adventure Festival, here, today. Chief Minister Dhami said, “Our state has an abundance of natural beauty and resources, and thus holds the potential to be at par with Switzerland. I am grateful to our Prime Minister for having special consideration for Uttarakhand’s tourism sector. We are in the process of building a robust railway network in the hills of Uttarakhand. Moreover, we have a vast network of allweather roads and world-class highways to help support and promote tourism. We are formulating new policies in each industrial sector that would largely benefit all our stakeholders. 
On becoming CM, I started to proactively contribute to the tourism sector by pledging to initiate the Char Dham Yatra. Although we encountered several roadblocks, the Yatra is, now, successfully up and running. We want Uttarakhand to emerge as the ultimate tourism capital of the country.” Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj said, “On the occasion of World Tourism Day, I would like us all to be good service providers so that our state could benefit. We are looking forward to a number of developments in the field of tourism, one being the planned international airport in Haridwar district. This international airport would immensely help boost tourism from different countries in the world. Another step would be to introduce electric vehicles and replace the conventional ones, ensuring cleaner and more sustainable tourism activities.” MSME Minister Ganesh Joshi added, “I am grateful to represent one of the most beautiful places in Uttarakhand, Mussoorie. I am proud of the amount of work the state has done for its tourism sector. Two upcoming projects are the Dehradun-Mussoorie Tunnel project and the Purkul-Mussoorie Ropeway project. These would be a boon for our tourism sector.” The adventure festival saw a series of adventure-related activities and workshops such as Basic Knots Workshop, Backpack Essentials Workshop, Outdoor Education Workshop for Children, Waste Warriors Workshop, among others. There were musical performances by local bands as well.
