The two-day long roundtable discussion on ‘Developing a Framework for Seamless Tourist Movements to North Eastern States of India’ concluded on Tuesday with the valedictory ceremony being held at IIM Shillong’s Umsawli campus.
The inaugural ceremony of the event, organised by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Centre for Policy Research and Analysis of IIM Shillong, supported by the North Eastern Council, was held on May 9. The roundtable discussion was part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, celebrating 75 years of India’s independence.
The programme was formally inaugurated by K Moses Chalai, IAS, Secretary, the North Eastern Council, who graced the occasion as the chief guest, in the presence of Prof DP Goyal, Director IIM Shillong, Sanjeev K Ningombam, Centre Coordinator of APJ Abdul Kalam Centre and other dignitaries.
The discussion was divided into four technical sessions, which were further divided into two parallel sessions each. The topics of the four sessions were Data acquisition of Tourists on the Portal, One-point Reference for Tourist Information, One-point Registration Platform for ILP and Data sharing of tourists among NER. The fourth and final session was held on May 10.
The discussion revolved around some of the crucial elements that hinder tourism growth in Northeast India, such as infrastructure and connectivity, permit system, lack of people’s cooperation and consciousness, lack of coordination among the stakeholders, lack of professional training institutes and shortage of well-qualified trainers, absence of trained tourist guides, and other challenges involving policy and administration.
The event aimed at involving the stakeholders, which include government representatives of the North Eastern Region (NER), including the commissioners and secretaries of the state tourism department, representatives from the North East Council (NEC), consultants from industry, experts on tourism, academicians and stakeholders actively involved in the hospitality sector of Northeast India in the discussion and bringing in the necessary changes in the tourism sector of Northeast India.
In the discussion, many suggestions on building user-friendly portals for tourists, data inclusion, crowd management, training of travel guides, capacity building, participation of community leaders, marketing of tourist destinations, creation of integrated services, entry permits and allied services to all states of northeast India and seamless data exchange came up.
NEC officials suggested partnering with educational institutes like IIM, etc. to create a committee for the development of the tourist destinations of the North Eastern Region and achieve rapid and sustainable growth in the region's tourism industry.
The event witnessed the presence of R Lalrodingi, Adviser (Banking and Industries) along with other officials from NEC, consultants from industry, experts on tourism, academicians and stakeholders actively involved in the hospitality sector of NE India.
