Hotels, chefs and tour operators pick Kashi: the FHRAI national convention lands at Taj Ganges on 21 August

For three days this month, the people who run India's hotels and restaurants will be doing their thinking in Banaras. The Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India holds its 56th annual convention at Taj Ganges from 21 to 23 August, and it has named the gathering after the city itself — "Ananta Kashi: Leading the Future of Tourism through Spirit, Culture, Cuisine and Craft." The programme reads like a map of where Indian travel is heading, with Kashi as the case study. Sessions are planned on spiritual, wellness and experiential tourism; on weddings and destination celebrations; on MICE and events; on gastronomy and culinary tourism; on sustainable hospitality design; and on technology and AI in the trade. Senior figures from IHCL, ITC Hotels, Wyndham, Hilton, Radisson and IHG are listed among the industry participants, alongside Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and other state ministers on the government side. What makes it worth a Banarasi's attention is the second half of the itinerary. Delegates are scheduled to visit Swarved Mahamandir Dham and Kashi Vishwanath Temple and to sit for the Ganga Aarti — meaning several hundred decision-makers will leave with a first-hand impression of the city rather than a brochure. For guides, boatmen, weavers, sweet shops and small restaurants, that kind of exposure tends to show up later as bookings. The convention itself is a trade event, so it is not a public programme.

Compiled by HelloBanaras from public sources: Hospitality Biz India