Bhubaneswar: Against the backdrop of the Covid-19 ravaged landscape, there is a need for developing new research methodology in the hospitality and tourism sector to explore new avenues, Prof. I. Ramabramham, Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Odisha, Koraput, has said.
The country has many unexplored tourist sites which could be developed while there was need to focus on tribal culture and lifestyle, Prof. Ramabramham said while speaking at a week-long Faculty Development Programme (FDP) organised by the School of Hotel Management, faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management of the SOA Deemed to be University here, which concluded here recently.
Explaining how new trends in tourism management could be reinvented, he said these projects could be taken up with government assistance, local initiative or through public-private partnership. Prof. Ramabramham also said there was a need for demystification of tourism as an elitist pursuit. Research should focus on how each state could promote its profile in the area of tourism, he said.
Twenty eminent resource persons drawn from different parts of the world took part in the FDP while 120 participants from 65 organisations from within India and abroad took part in the deliberations.
Some of the prominent organizations which participated in the FDP included National University, Bangladesh, Central Universities, IITTM, IHM, CIPET, IFNOU, OSEPA, Government of Odisha, State Council of Technical Education and Vocational Training, Government of Odisha and Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion Society, Government of Bihar.
The resource persons included Prof. S.C.Bagari, professor of HNB Garhwal Central University, Dr. M.K.Hada, Director, Vigilance and Security, DRDO, Prof. Tapan Kumar Panda, former Acting Director, IIM, Indore and Chief Academic Officer of Ampersand Group, Mumbai, Mr. Prem Subramaniam, Ex-Head, Tourism Infrastructure, IDFC, Prof. Sanjay Nadkarni, Director of Innovation and Research, Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, Dubai and Prof. Sunil Sahadev, Professor, University of Brighton, UK. Prof. Sitikantha Mishra, Advisor-cum-Dean, SHM, who was the Programme Director, thanked the resource persons while Dr. Anshuman Samal, Associate Professor, provided a detailed overview of the FDP.
Dr. Smita S. Mahapatra, Associate Professor and Dr. Sasmita Mohanty, Associate Professor proposed the vote of thanks.