New Delhi, Sep 29 (IANS): It was a jazzy celebration of World Tourism Day here on Wednesday with the performance of the American group 'Donald Harrison and the Berklee All Stars'.

Led by Grammy-nominated Berklee School of Music alumnus and swinging alto saxophonist Donald Harrison, the band also features Berklee faculty member and singer Patrice Williamson (Boston), Berklee alumni Max Moran on the Bass (New Orleans), pianist Leo Blanco (Venezuela), and Darryl Staves on drums (New Orleans).

"This is for the first time, we have come to India and I'd say the experience so far has been great. Performing for the Indians is as amazing as performing for the western audiences," Donald Harrison told IANS.

"This country has such a rich culture and people's interest in arts is so heart-warming. When you perform for them, they respond and that has been the beauty of this tour," he added.

Their evening performance at the American Centre as part of the World Tourism Day celebration, gained a lot of appreciation from the Indian audiences who got a chance to be a acquainted with the zealot American genre.

The celebrations also featured a session on 'Applying for a US Visa' where an American Embassy Consular Officer spoke about the US visa application process.

"We are trying to raise awareness on the role of tourism within the international community and to demonstrate how it affects social, cultural, political and economic values worldwide," North India Programme Director for the Embassy, Richard Pinkham told IANS.