A National Conference on Destination Branding and Competitive Positioning (6th-8th September, 2018) was organized by the School of Business Studies, Central University of Jammu under the patronage of Honorable Vice Chancellor Prof. Ashok Aima . The event is scheduled for three days and aims to bring together professionals in travel and tourism industry, policy makers, academicians and scholars from across the country to promote dialogue, discussion and discourse on intrinsic nuances of destination branding. The outcome of the conference would lay the roadmap for formulating destination branding and management strategies.

The conference formed an intellectual pool receiving more than 50 research papers and delegates coming from length and breadth of the country including Rajasthan, Haryana, Karnataka, Hyderabad, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Meghalaya and Kashmir. Over the course of three consecutive days, the delegates will debate, discuss and form constructive suggestions on various thematic areas such as destination marketing support systems, destination brand architecture, destination rebranding, and brand value creation. The list of resource persons includes the leaders in academics and industry.

In his presidential remarks Prof. Ashok Aima, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Jammu urged that the Universities in J&K need to break free from the intellectual stagnation and stereotypical attitude in order to become leading think tanks working in sync with the government. The Chief Guest of the event Sh. Parvez Dewan, IAS, Former Secretary Tourism, GOI shared his insights on the future of tourism globally and J&K in particular. The keynote address was delivered by Jb. Saleem Beg, Former Secretary of Tourism, J&K followed by Prof. Deepak Raj Gupta, Director ICCCR and HRM, University of Jammu wherein he stressed on the necessity to embrace cultural preservation beyond borders and need for responsible tourism. Prof. M.N Khan, Adjunct Professor, CUJ and Faculty, AMU Conference Chair briefed the audience about the relevance of the thematic areas to be addressed in the conference. Earlier Prof. Jaya Bhasin, Head, Department of Tourism and Travel Management delivered the welcome address at the inaugural ceremony. In all there will be three plenary sessions and five technical sessions which will be presided by eminent resource persons. Dr. Neelika Arora and Dr. Shahid Mushtaq, Assistant Professors at School of Business Studies are the organizing secretary for the conference. The conference was organized and coordinated by the faculty members, scholars and students of School of Business Studies. The event was hosted at Indian Institute of Public Administration, Jammu. The conference in scheduled to conclude on 8th September, 2018. Ms. Anjali Pathania, Assistant Professor, School of Business Studies delivered the formal vote of thanks. Ms. Shalki Manhas was the master of the ceremony.