World Tourism Day: Tourists to Nagaland growing

Eastern Mirror Desk Dimapur, Sep. 26: Despite all odds, Nagaland has quite a lot in store for tourists to explore owing to the state’s rich hill stations, culture, and assorted festivals, and proximity with international boundaries; and the best seasons and exotic places to visit. World Tourism Day is celebrated on September 27 every year to raise awareness about tourism’s actual and potential contribution to sustainable development. According to the directorate of Economic and statistics (2016), and Tourism department (2017) record, the number of tourists in the state including domestic and foreign tourists is 3,50,798 during the past five years. The number fluctuates year-to-year. The number of tourists saw a height in 2017 with 1,02,062 domestic tourists and 4,166 foreign tourists. It is pertinent to point out that the Hornbill festival receives maximum tourists almost every year. According to the Tourism department, the number of domestic and foreign tourists during the Hornbill festival during the past five year was 1,14,564. Interacting with Eastern Mirror about the challenges faced by the department, an official from the Tourism department, who did not want to be named, said: “Road communication is the major setback at the moment.” It is a well known challenging factor that every department is facing, including tourism, the official said. When asked about the fluctuation in the number of tourists, the official said, “Tourism has their own season. During monsoon, tourist tried to avoid venturing out to a place like Nagaland mainly because of the natural disaster which is bound to happen.” In a major enhancement to the department of Tourism, the government Cabinet gave on April 16 a nod to conducting mini-Hornbill festivals in all the district headquarters coinciding with the tribes’ major festivals. Following the approval, Tsüngremmong Hornbill Festival of Mokokchung 2018 started on August 1. According to the Tourism survey for the state of Nagaland (June 2014 to May 2015), Ministry of Tourism (MOT), the purpose of visit for most of the foreign visitors was ‘holidaying, leisure, and recreation.’ On the other hand, domestic tourists visited mainly for business purposes, followed by holidaying and leisure; work related to government authorities, or education and training; shopping, religious activity or pilgrimage, among others. The analysis was divided into domestic and foreign tourists, and for overnight and same-day stay. The survey mentioned the expectation level of tourists visiting the state. ‘Much better than expectation’ was the impression of about 49 visitors including foreign and domestic visitors. ‘Somewhat better than expectation’ was the impression of 10, 673 people, both domestic and foreign tourists. 48 domestic tourists said it was ‘worse than the expectation.’ The analysis was divided into domestic and foreign tourists, and for overnight and same-day stay.