Union tourism minister Subodh Kant Sahay on Friday stressed on the need for more cooperation among the South Asian countries in tourism. He was speaking during the inauguration of the 18th South Asian Travel and Tourism Exchange (SATTE)-ITB (Berlin), the biggest tour and travel exhibition in the South Asian region. The two-day conference-cum-exhibition also discussed for the first time various aspects of the gay and lesbian tourism in India, which is being seen as a possible new growth segment.
Mr Sahay said that together the South Asian countries attract less than one per cent of the in-bound tourists and there was a need to promote a sense of honourable and safe tourism.
Union water resources minister Salman Khursheed, who was also present at the occasion, expressed his happiness at Jammu and Kashmir being represented at the exhibition.