The United Nations’ world Tourism Day was also commemorated in the state on September 27 along with the rest of the world. The governor of the state in his message had stated that the state has rich natural and cultural heritage which can be exploited to promote tourism in the state and create avenues for generating revenue and employment for the youth and the state. Speaking on the occasion of the state’s function commemorating the Day, Merentoshi the adviser to the chief minister also emphasised on the need to capitalise on eco-tourism and the rich bio-diversity of Nagaland in order to increase the capacity of the tourism sector in the state.
While not opposing the statements made by the Head of the State and the Adviser, the tourism sector in the state is still untapped though such similar statements have been repeatedly made over the years save for the Hornbill Festival of 5-10 days during the month of December. Successive governments in the state have been working to improve the sector but with just the Hornbill Festival to talk about at present the sector has come to a point of stagnancy. Some out of the box policy is required but one that involves the people at the grassroots.
At present many of the projects initiated by the department concerned in the districts have gone waste. Tourist amenity centres, view points, lodges etc. that were constructed by the department are now mostly in ruins. It is either that it is not sustainable for the locals who run these places or the tourism sector is not attractive to be an alternative form of profession and employment. It also indicates a big disconnect between the policies and the people.
It is now widely accepted that the communities in North East India had an over dose of learning about other people and cultures of the rest of the country and the world but very little about themselves. To generalise, the locals need to learn more about ones rich culture and traditions, flora and fauna along with the views and ethics of the prospective tourists. Then only will they gain the ability to see things from the tourist’s perspective and be ideal hosts. Like any other industry tourism also requires trainings; Nagaland requires trainings at the grassroots first then the concrete structures later. Trainings in accordance with the local context would go a long way to make the sector an attractive and also one that is sustainable.
For Nagaland except in some towns tourism will stay largely as an unorganised sector. Therefore the government need to formulate policies on those lines. The failed attempts at planning like any other organised sector should be a lesson learnt. In Nagaland, the state government has communitisation to its advantage.
In management, there is a concept called ‘Word of Mouth Marketing’ which is self explanatory in itself and holds very true in the current global tourism scenario. With the onset of Internet and Social Media it may not be literally word of mouth, but a known person talking about how good it is to visit Nagaland will have a wider impact than the government advertisements, flyers and websites. Like in any other scenario, the advertisements first bring in the few adventurous pioneers. Their testimony brings in their whole cohort.
