Uttar Pradesh Tourism Minister Om Prakash Singh Saturday inaugurated an international travel and tourism exhibition, India Travel Mart (ITM), here.
The three-day exhibition offers visitors Christmas, New Year and honeymoon packages along with weekend and long break family holidays, tourism officials told IANS.
ITM Lucknow is supported by the Uttar Pradesh tourism department as host state, Rajasthan and Gujarat tourism departments are partner states with Goa Tourism being a co-partner state.
Himachal Tourism is the feature state and other supporting entities include union ministry of tourism, West Bengal tourism, Maharashtra tourism, Jharkhand tourism, Madhya Pradesh tourism, Kerala tourism and various travel trade associations, an official said.
Ajay Gupta, CMD, ITM informed about the importance of promoting tourism in the tier II cities of the country and said tourism has become a booming sector in India's economy.
"Tourism is essential to the life of nations because of its direct effects on the social, cultural, educational and economic sectors of national societies and on their international relations," he said.