Sandeep Banerjee

Assam Governor Lt. Gen (Retd) Ajai Singh has taken initiative in forming of the North East Chamber of Tourism (NECT) to boost the huge tourism potential of the eight North-Eastern states including Sikkim.

A mutually worked out model of the NECT has been accepted by all the states of the region. No date has been fixed for setting up the chamber. The states will now discuss the new proposal with their tourism departments and report back at the erliest. The proposed chamber would address various problems in the tourism sector in each of the eight states and take them up for discussion. The chamber will also market the region to increase tourist inflow. The formation of the chamber will help the region undergo an image makeover.

Lt. Gen (Retd) Ajai Singh has made it very clear at the time of initiating the move that NECT would not be a funding agency but a facilitating organization which would help entrepreneurs interested in taking up projects related to development of the region’s sector. The chamber will be part of NEC and Assam Governor will act as its chairman. It will work together with organizations like India Tourism, NEDFi and NEC.

This proposal has come at a time when Government of India pushing to promote the North-East as a tourist destination. During 2003-04, against plan allocation of Rs. 325 crore, an amount of Rs. 37.84 crore was sanctioned for tourism related projects in the North-East. In 2004-05, ten per cent of the plan allocation of Rs. 500 crore earmarked for development of tourism in North-East region has been fully spent. The financial assistance given to North-Eastern states also includes assistance for promotion of fairs and festivals every year on a continuing basis. Budget allocation under the head Domestic Campaignincluding fairs and festivals has been increased for the region.

In order to give wide publicity to the tourist attractions of the North-Eastern region, Ministry of Tourism has launched nationwide campaign in various places of the country on a continuing basis. North-East states are given a free booth in the world’s largest tourism fair – ITB, Berlin by Ministry of Tourism. Financial assistance is being provided for use of IT for tourism promotion. North-Eastern states are also enjoying special focus in the marketing conference of overseas offices of the ministry, who are continuously giving publicity for tourism promotion in the region.

At this juncture, one can only hope that the proposed NECT will provide the much needed boost to tourism in the North-Eastern region. Chronic unrest has largely kept both domestic and international tourists away from the region for long. Fortunately, as various peace process have started in the last few years, there are signs that tourist inflow in the region is increasing. Thanks to the Assam Governor for taking timely steps to include North-East in international tourism map.

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