Staff Reporter
Dimapur, September 26
A national seminar on ‘role of tourism in socio-economic development of India with special reference to Nagaland,’ sponsored by University Grants Commission of India (NERO) was held at Unity College today with Pro-vice Chancellor Nagaland University, Prof. Lanunungsang Ao as the chief guest. Prof. Lanunungsang during the inaugural programme noted that such kind of national level seminar on ‘Tourism’ is the need for the hour as the state is in need of trained man who can spread the richness of our cultures and traditions to the outside world.
Stating that Unity College is one of the fastest growing colleges of the State, Lanunungsang suggested the college to take up ‘tourism’ as an adds-on subject from the following semester as per the UGC, which has asked every colleges to have adds on apart from the regular subjects.
Additional Director of Directorate of Tourism, K.T Thomas who came as guest of honor during the seminar highlighted various issues involved in ‘tourism’ sector within the state.
‘Tourism is the third highest foreign exchange earner after gems and jewellery and textiles and its role is increasing,’ said Thomas.
He said tourism can contribute a lot to the economy of Nagaland but has not earned its place in the sun because of various issues that never seems to cease including lack of proper infrastructure like good roads, uninterrupted power supply, flowing piped water, regular flights, good and clean hotels in the districts and other tourist places which are still not set to welcome tourists from outside the state.
Highlighting the various issues, K.T Thomas lamented that without improving the infrastructure no amount of talk, discussion, seminars and symposia will help in the socio economic development of the state.
He said to bring improvement in the state, collective effort of both the government and public are needed as the general public still lack awareness on tourism, which is one of the most important factor in the socio- economic development of the state.
He said though in the recent years, the growth of tourism in the state has been experiencing a growth of 5% every year, yet our growth has not reached our potential, as we are still way behing our share of the tourist traffic that visits the country.
K.T Thomas also said such kind of seminars and workshops will indeed help in the growth of tourism in the socio economic development of the country in general and the state in particular.
The Department of Commerce and Economics of Unity College organized the seminar.
Eminent speakers from various universities and colleges for the state as well as from other states took part in the seminar covering various topics in the field of tourism.
World Tourism Day (WTD), which is observed on September 27, draws special attention to the role of tourism in contributing to one of the building blocks of a more sustainable future for all: Community development whose focus is in line with the global transition to the Sustainable Development.
