Chhattisgarh, one of the fastest growing tourism destinations in India have won the “Best Emerging State” Travel & Hospitality award 2012 in tourism. The other nominated states for the award included states like Jammu & Kashmir and Assam.

Chhattisgarh Tourism Board(CTB) Chairman, Shri K.K. Rai received the award from senior leader and BJP Vice President Nazma Heptulla at a function held in the capital. Travel & Hospitality, one of the leading magazines conferred its first edition of Travel and Hospitality Awards 2012. These awards are based on the exhaustive research and feedback taken from 11 cities across the country.

Mr. Tapesh Jha, MD, Chhattisgarh Tourism Board (CTB) said, “We are excited to receive this recognition and would like to thank Travel & Hospitality and congratulate them for this initiative. The board has embarked on a number of initiatives to promote Chhattisgarh as a tourist destination and an award like this shows that our efforts are in the right direction. This will further boost our efforts and commitment towards promoting the state and working towards offering memorable experience to our guests. ” 

Adding further on the recognition Mr. Ashutosh Sharma-Media Consultant, Chhattisgarh Tourism Board (CTB) said,” As today’s traveller is looking for newer destinations to explore, Chhattisgarh offers a completely unique and unforgettable experience. Our campaign is also about a state “Full of surprises”, we are thrilled to receive this award and believe this is just a start, we have a long way to go in promoting tourism in the state.” 

Recently Chhattisgarh was also ranked in the Top 5 tourist destinations at No 4 by Sunday Indian-Abacus Market Research 'State of the States' survey. 

To promote tourism in the state Chhattisgarh Tourism Board have taken a number of initiatives, like: 

-- The Chhattisgarh Tourism Board initiated work on a tourism master plan for the next five years and it is expected to come out by the end of 2012. The master plan would emphasize on a capacity buildingmechanism to support the local population, and ensure a sustainable model for the tourism sector that would bring in inclusive growth 

-- CTB rolled out its marketing campaign ‘I discovered…, the underlying theme of the integrated advertising and marketing campaign draws from the pleasure and delight of experiencing the new and unknown. Theadvertising and marketing expenditures have been budgeted close to Rs.7 crores, the campaign started in September,11 and right now it is in its last phase. The objective of the campaign is to attract domestic and international travelers and to undertake a focused program to buildawareness. 

-- Promoting tourism more aggressively CT recently announced special discounts on room rents across all of its properties in the state as well as introducing special family package tours spanning various tourist circuits in the State.