The Indian government’s special thrust and impetus for the country’s Northeastern part, has taken the region’s tourism to new heights in the last few years. According to one of Tripura MPs – Pratima Bhowmik, the Union Tourism Ministry had sanctioned Rs 1,400 crore projects for the eight northeastern states in the past five years.
In an answer to one of Bhowmik’s questions, the Union Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel said in Loksabha that under the Swadesh Darshan scheme, his Ministry had taken several steps to boost tourism in the northeastern states. For this, of the Rs 1,400 crore, the centre has released Rs 896 crore yet.
Promoting the development of theme-based tourist circuits, the Swadesh Darsan scheme approved in total of 16 projects in the past five years. Of this, the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura have bagged two each.
The projects incorporated developmental programmes for :
* Tezpur-Majuli-Sibsagar heritage in Assam.
* Wildlife tourism in Assam that includes development of Manas-Probitora-Nameri-
* Eco-tourism in Mizoram that includes development of Aizawl-Rawpuichhip-Khawhphawp-
* Tribal affairs in Nagaland, comprising development of Mokokchung-Tuensang-Mon and Peren-Kohima-Wokha.
* Spiritual tourism in Manipur which involves development of Shri Govindajee Temple, Shri Bijoy Govindajee Temple-Shri Gopinath Temple-Shri Bungshibodon Temple-Shri Kaina Temple.
Explaining how the centre is acting on the target, Patel said earlier the Union Home Ministry (MHA) had declared Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim as partly protected area and partly restricted area.
“But on September 14, 2018, the MHA (Foreigners Division) relaxed the restricted area permit (RAP) and the protected area permit (PAP) for Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland up to December 2022,” he said.
Similarly, relaxations had also been allowed to tour operators and travel agents of the region in the form of their paid-up capital, educational qualifications, foreign exchange earnings turnover when they apply for recognition and renewal of their agencies.
Again under the Marketing Development Assistance Scheme, financial assistance had been provides to approved stakeholders and state tourism departments for undertaking tourism promotion activities in overseas markets, including sales-cum-study tours, participation in travel fairs and exhibitions and production of publicity material.
Besides all this, in order to showcase their potential to global as well as domestic players, the northeastern states had also been provided with the opportunity of organising International Travel Mart (ITM) each year. Last year, in the month of November, Tripura’s capital Agartala staged the seventh edition of ITM.
The northeastern part of India with its greenery, wildlife, heritage sites, eco-friendly environment along with its rich traditions and culture, receives lakhs of foreign and domestic tourists footfalls every year.
So apart from the Tourism Ministry, the Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Ministry has also undertaken a separate scheme to promote the concept of “homestay” in the region.
On this, DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh said. “The homestay scheme was successful in Sikkim and Meghalaya. Such exclusive and personalised approach not only increases tourist inflow, but also generates new avenues of livelihood for local youth and families.”
