North East News Agency

The North Eastern Council (NEC) has launched an ambitious scheme for promotion of tourism in the region, which includes development of tourism infrastructure, holding of festivals and fairs, capacity building, tourist circuit development, etc. The Council, in a report published on the occasion of its 35 years, said that the North East region has tremendous potential for growth of tourism but over the years, serious efforts have not been launched in this regard. Inadequate infrastructure facilities like accommodation, transport and communication, coupled with restrictions in the form of inner-line permit and restricted area permit systems and the socio-economic environment prevalent in the region are not in favour of flow of tourists, both domestic and foreign, the report said. Individual States of the region made some scattered attempts to attract tourists but so far no sustained effort has been launched by the region as a whole.

Giving a detailed account of the major components of the scheme launched by the NEC, the report said that one of the main thrust areas is to develop infrastructure facilities, which include proper communication network, adequate hygienic boarding facilities, proper food and entertainment. The NEC has already started the process of development of tourist resorts in selected places. Another thrust area is tea tourism, which has tremendous potential. The report pointed out that a number of gardens in the region are in bad shape because of the fall in prices of tea in the international market and there is ample opportunity of converting the traditional bungalows of the managers of the gardens into tourist resorts.

The report further pointed out that the North East has tremendous potential for development of religious and cultural tourism, wildlife tourism, eco-tourism, rural tourism, adventure and water sports, etc. The report said that the NEC can play a big role in promoting tourism in the region by extending support for holding of different fairs and festivals to promote ethnic culture of the States. The report further said that publicity plays a major role for promotion of tourism and observed that tourist information centres should be set up for all the States of the region at Guwahati and other important locations. The NEC started the process of promoting tourism only from the 10th Plan period and as the first step, a yatriniwas-cum-NEC guest house is being constructed in Paltan Bazar area of Guwahati city to provide accommodation to tourists.

Tourist inflow to NE intact despite terror attacks

North East News Agency

Terror attacks and violence in the North-east have impacted tourism in the region, but the sector picks up as soon as the situation stabilises after such incidents, according to official figures.Figures collected during 2003, 2004 and 2005 show a steady increase in tourist arrivals despite several incidents of violence and extremist attacks during these years. A total of 33,99,521 tourists arrived in the North-east in 2004 against 31,30,950 in 2003, showing an increase of 8.6 per cent. Similarly, a total of 35,07,958 tourists arrived in the region in 2005, marking an increase of 3.2 per cent.

However, tourist arrivals in certain states showed a decline in the past two years. In Arunachal Pradesh, the figure went down from 5,009 in 2004 to 3,294 in 2005. In Tripura, 2,64,078 tourists arrived in 2004, but in 2005 the number fell to 2,19,007. In Manipur, 4,45,902 tourists arrived in 2004 but this fell to 3,81,000 the next year.

Senior officials in the tourism ministry said the government was taking several measures to attract more foreign tourists to India despite unfavourable conditions in some parts of the country and incidents of criminal assaults on travellers.

The measures include provision of tourist police at specific places and better lighting in and around monuments and spots that attract tourists. The ministry is also working in tandem with other ministries like the railways and civil aviation to work out better facilities for foreign tourists, officials said.

The railways ministry has been asked to upgrade railway stations at certain major tourist destinations and to improve passenger amenities both in stations and trains. The Railways also has been requested to start trains exclusively for tourists, especially in identified tourist circuits. Steps are being taken to ensure connectivity between tourist destinations through augmentation of air capacity and improving infrastructure at these places.

The civil aviation ministry has also been requested to provide connectivity to small destinations, especially in hilly areas where access by road takes a great deal of time. Widening of national highways and connecting important destinations is being done by the road transport and highways ministry. Hospitality programmes are being reinforced, including the grant of air passages to invite media personnel and tour operators for familiarisation tours to India to get first-hand knowledge of tourism products. Provisional estimates have put the arrival figure for foreign tourists at 4.43 million, showing an increase of 13 per cent over the 3.92 million who visited the country in the preceding year.

A Thailand delegation would visit northeastern states next month to give an international exposure to the region’s tourism industry of the region.

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