Arunachal- Our future lies in tourism- Chowna Mein
NAMSAI- Attending a workshop on ‘Responsible Tourism – Future Forum’ organized by Dept of Tourism in collaboration with Outlook Group at Namsai today, Deputy Chief Minister, Chowna Mein said, “Our future lies in tourism and let us work together to develop Arunachal Tourism in to a responsible and sustainable one”. He urged the Department of Tourism and the ‘Outlook Group’ to put Arunachal Pradesh in Tourism map of India.
He thanked the Ministry of Tourism, Govt of India for sanctioning fund for infrastructure development of Parsuramkund saying that the Parsuramkund Mela has become a tradition for us as thousands of Hindu pilgrimage come to the site every year for holy dip in Lohit river.
He also asked the tourism dept to simplify the process of obtaining Inner Line Permit and Protected Area Permit for the travellers and foreign tourists as many want to visit the State but because of difficulties in obtaining ILP/PAP many of them reluctant to come to the State. He, however, said that we must evolve a clean and high end tourism for the State. He also emphasized on the need to develop more infrastructures for tourism industry to grow in the State.
He said that there will be no shortage of power supply in the State for those who want to establish industry in the region as drawing of 132 KV line from chapakhowa to Roing through power grid has been completed and another 220 KV line from Kothalguri to Namsai will begin soon. He also informed that a hydro-power project of 1750 MW is also coming up in the State.
Minister of Tourism, Nakap Nalo said that the Govt of Arunachal Pradesh is striving best to be the facilitator acting as a catalyst for the development and promotion of tourism in Arunachal Pradesh. He added that towards this end, we are working keenly in tandem with all the stakeholders to Transform Arunachal Pradesh as one of the most sought after tourist destination in the world.
He said that emphasize are being to make our State responsible towards tourism and encouraging activities towards rural tourisms like homestays, adventure tourism in rural areas, community based tourism, eco-tourism, developing of tourist circuits and human resource development. He also said that we also strive to keep the value of sustainable tourism and the need to protect our environment by laying significance on waste management and maintaining cleanliness and hygiene.
Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Govt of India, Smt Meenakshi Sharma said that there is immense potential for tourism in Arunachal Pradesh owing to its natural beauty, cultures, rivers and hospitality of the community. She suggested to develop a new tourist destination in a traditional way with less concretization but a sustainable one and to create commodity that would contribute to the development of local economy on long term basis.
She said that no tourism is beneficial if the local communities are not helped. She informed that a Buddhist Circuit is coming up soon in the country which would also include Arunachal Pradesh. She further informed that there are schemes implemented under Ministry of Tourism, Govt of India such as Swadesh Darshan Schemes and PRASAD (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive) that focuses on identifying and developing the pilgrim sites across the country to promote religious tourism.
Secretary Tourism, Govt of Arunachal Pradesh, Sadhana Deori informed that Department of Tourism is carrying out a series of workshops with Outlook Group with a vision of Team Arunachal to develop a responsible and sustainable tourism for Arunachal Pradesh. He informed that similar workshop was already conducted at Dirang and two more workshops will be conducted at Subansiri and Pasighat.
On the occasion, CEO Outlook Group, Indranil Roy, Co-founder & Managing Director, Grassroutes, Inir Pinheiro, Managing Director, CGH Earth Hotels, Michael Dominic, Vice President, Invest India, Varun Sood, Director, Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust, Tsewang Namgail and Owner, Sangaru Design Studio, Sandeep Sangaru, Outlook Group, Sonali Chatterjee and Soity Banerjee have spoken as resource persons on various subjects of responsible tourism.
Among others, Advisors Laisam Simai, Kaling Moyong, Smt Gum Tayeng, Smt Jummum Ete Deori and MLA Namsai, Chau Zingnu Namchoom and Deputy Commissioners from Dibang Valley, Lower Dibang Valley, Lohit, Anjaw, Namsai and Director Tourism, Abu Tayeng were also present on the occasion.
