At the 5th Mail Today Tourism Summit, actor Gul Panag, spoke passionately about her favourite tourist destinations and how responsible tourism is the need of the hour. Travel does three things for me. It allows me to de-stress, spend quality time with my family and is always a learning experience, said the star who is also a trained pilot, entrepreneur, politician and an adventure enthusiast.

In a conversation with India Today group editorial director Raj Chengappa, Panag spoke about how state tourism boards should move beyond basic targeting and look at creating sub-sects of tourists. I’d like to see targeted reach from state tourism boards. Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand are strong cases for adventure sports. Madhya Pradesh could be a great place for rock crawling with SUVs or rock climbing. Within domestic travellers, these are the opportunities that exist.

An avid champion of electric mobility, Panag will be headed to Bern, Switzerland, later this month to support the Indian Electric Racing team. I am going to Bern for the second time and this time around am going to use that opportunity to learn the significance of it being the Capital of Venice Burroughs.

Ladakh remains the 40-yearold’s favourite destination and it’s always the mountains that are her calling when it comes to holidays. Citing experiential travel as the trend that needs to be chased, Panag said, Where can I show my son how to milk a cow or buffalo than in villages of our country? Talking about how the Archaeological Survey of India needs to take better care of monuments, Panag, also asked travellers to be responsible and avoid littering tourist places.

A fitness enthusiast who has also co-founded a company creating fitness apps, Panag explores a city by running first. Her only pet-peeve with herself is that she doesn’t experiment with food. Unlike me, as a traveller you must explore the culture through food.