Langmei VA
IMPHAL, May 24: The Langmei (Ritiang/Chiang) VA has decided to take step against any threat to DIET, Tamei Headquarters. A statement issued by the chairman of Langmei VA, P Lungpadbow also appealed the DIET, Tamei and the students to discharge their duty .....
Govt signs MoU with UPPK
IMPHAL, May 24: A home-coming ceremony of UPPK leaders and cadres was held today at 1st MR banquet hall during which a tripartite Me-morandum of Understanding was signed between the outfit, Government of Manipur and Government of India. Chief Minister .....
Muivah states stand to titular king
IMPHAL, May 24: “Nagas and Meiteis should decide for their own future and our future will be the outcome of this de-cision”, stated NSCN-IM Ato Kilonser Thuingaleng Muivah during a meeting with titular king Leishemba Sanajaoba at Hebron, Dimapur. .....
N/East Mt Everest Expedition ends
IMPHAL, May 24: With the successful summit to Mt Eve-rest by Manish Deka from Assam today at 5.45am, the record setting 1st NE India Mt Everest Expedition came to an end. The total number of successful Everesters from the expedition team stands at 11......
Ukhrul protest
UKHRUL, May 24: More than 1500 Anganwadi Workers and Helpers staged sit in protest at Ukhrul Mini Secretariat Complex today demand- ing payment of their pending twelve months honorarium. Later in the afternoon, a memorandum addressed to the Minister o.....
Flaws in Govt's Agri policy
IMPHAL, May 24: At a time when the Government of India is putting in serious effort to develop agriculture and allied sectors by pumping in additional fund, the State Government is currently pain-ting a contrasting picture. According to an official sou.....
KNF officer shot dead
IMPHAL, May 24: Comman-ding officer of KNF’s Ebenezer Camp HS Shanty Kipgen was shot dead by some unidentified persons at around 10 pm of May 23. Some 7/8 unidentified persons came to the house one Bimola located just beside Fo-rest Beat Office near.....
Fund boost to Mary's goal
NEW DELHI, May 24: The sports ministry has given in-principle approval for a grant of Rs 309.56 lakh to Olympic medallist Mary Kom's Regional Boxing Foundation at Imphal for construction of a gymnasium hall and procurement of equipments. The grant, to .....
Parents' body
IMPHAL, May 24: Close on the heels of 15 school children collapsing inside an overcrowded school van yesterday, All Manipur Guardian Stuents Organisation (AMSGO) has demanded that strict instruction be given by Education Minister to van drivers not to cra.....
Cultural prog
IMPHAL, May 24: A one day cultural and musical exchange programme was held today at Senapati Public Ground under the aegis of Senapati District Students’ Association (SDSA) and Kuki Students’ Organisa-tion, Sadar Hills (KSO-SH). The programme held .....
Centre naive on NH protection force plan
IMPHAL, May 24: Despite continuous demand from va-rious sections for deployment of highway protection force (HPF) to ensure safe passage of vehicle operators and pas-sengers along the national highways connecting Manipur to other parts of the country, the.....
Screening for Cervical Cancer
By Dr BabinaThangjam When Ashangbi Devi (name changed) started having regular bouts of back pain and watery vaginal discharge, she instinctively knew something was not right.She started experiencing all thesemany years after her menopause and at first, s.....
“Go for gospel music”
By Rev L Simon Raomai Rock music is in the air virtually everywhere today. It is a captivate music culture which originated from western world. It is popularized from packed sports arena to advertisements that peddle everything from movie sound tracks an.....
Traditional healing methods with special reference to Manipur
By Dr K Paochunbou (Contd from previous issue) But Scientists know that the bitter taste is caused by a toxin- “tetracyclic trieterpenoid cucurbitacin compound” and such toxin can cause vomiting of blood, severe diarrhoea, severe ulcers, fatal, st.....
School vans : Packed like sardines The wake up call
It did not end in a disaster. A providential escape ? Whatever, the warning cannot and should not be ignored. Packed like sardines in a can. This is perhaps the closest description of school vans all over Imphal and the other towns of Manipur, like Churac.....
KKSDDA warns
IMPHAL, May 24: Highlighting the scores of inconveniences faced by the people of Kasom Khullen Subdivision due to prolonged absence of responsible SDO/BDO and delayed in inauguration of the new office building, the Kasom Khullen Subdivision Development As.....
Successful candidates congratulated
IMPHAL, May 24: The Thoubal Police has congratulated Kshetrimayum Thoithoinganba Meitei s/o Ksh Rajen Singh and Sougrakpam (N) Ksh (O) Nonibala Devi of Thoubal Nongangkhong who secured the 8th position in the HSLC Exam 2013 conducted by the BSEM. A sta.....
KSO reprimands Cdl NRHM
IMPHAL, May 24: Expressing discontentment over the conduct of perfunctory three-day health mela at Joupi village in Khengjoy subdivision from May 17-19 by the NRHM Chandel, the Kuki Students' Organisation played down the health mela saying it was done onl.....
Two UG cadres nabbed
IMPHAL, May 24: A PREPAK cadre reportedly with several criminal records was arrested by a combined team of Thoubal police commandos and 6 Dogra today around 4.10 pm while conducting a search operation at Pallel Bazar. Identifying the arrested PREPAK ca.....
AITSA for change of leadership in Govt
IMPHAL, May 24: The All India Tribal Students’ Association Delhi (AITSA) and the Mongoloid Peoples Forum (MPF), Delhi, expressing apprehension on the virtual lack of sensitivity and the decaying secular character of the State Government, urged the Con.....
Headlines
By : Agencies
Promoting NE As Tourist Destination Intl Tourism Mart begins in Guwahati
Guwahati, Jan 18: The three-day International Tourism Mart began in Guwahati today with an aim to promote North-East as an attractive tourist destination for foreign tourists.
“This is the first event of its kind ever organised in India. The main purpose of the Mart is to help people from other countries get to know the unexplored paradise that the North-Eastern region is,” Union Tourism Secretary Parvez Dewan told reporters here.
The event will be formally inaugurated tomorrow by Assam Governor J B Patnaik and Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Tourism K Chiranjeevi. Apart from the seven north-eastern states, the Mart is also highlighting the tourism potential of West Bengal and Sikkim.
The Mart would see 85 buyer delegates from 23 countries. It would be attended by Cambodia’s Vice Minister for Tourism Kousoum Saroeuth, Lao Democratic Peoples’ Republic’s Deputy Minister for Culture and Tourism Savankhon Razmontry and Singapore Tourism Board Executive Director Chee-Pey Chang. Besides cultural events and technical sessions, there would also be 90 Business-to-Business round tables where discussion for closer relations among travel fraternity and hospitality players of North Eastern region, West Bengal, other states of India, Europe, North America, SAARC and ASEAN regions, the Tourism Secretary said.
The Mart would be followed by an Adventure Tourism Operators’ Conference organised by the Assam government on January 20. Familiarisation tours of North-East states for foreign delegates have been set up for January 21-28.
The number of international tourists who visited the North-East went up to 58,920 in 2011 from 50,950 in 2010, Dewan said.
Meanwhile, the number of tourists to north-east from other states of India stood at 63.74 lakh in 2011 as against 61.66 lakh in the previous year. “We have to ensure that this event leads to much greater numbers in days to come,” he said.
Union Additional Director General for Tourism A K Gupta said while centrally-funded tourism projects in the North-East have got delayed due to factors like limited working season and infrastructure problem, the progress is better than in other parts of the country.
“Besides, the funds released for the projects in North-East is also greater than in other states,” Gupta said, adding that a separate Tourism Advisory Council for North-East could be taken up in future.
The Mart is also expected to promote greater tourists flow among people within the region, Assam Principal Secretary (Tourism) H S Das said.
“People from North-East are great travellers but they generally visit Goa and Kanyakumari or go to Singapore and Thailand for overseas visits. Very few people from Assam visit Kohima or a few from Mizoram go to Arunachal Pradesh,” Das said.
“For the rest of the country and the world, we want to promote North-East as an attractive tourist destination with Assam as a corridor,” he said. The state government is spending around Rs 4 crore for the Mart, Das said.
Speaking on the occasion, Manipur Tourism Secretary Rajesh Kumar said while his state faces problems of militancy, there is no threat for tourists.
Life One aka Rov Meetei
Any amount of tourism cacophony and visually enhanced brochures will not beckon discerning or prospective tourists in droves to NE and tourism dollars will still be a distant dream. Address the inherent problems that dogged our region first. Make sincere efforts to address these three major hurdles- Insurgency, Accommodations and Connectivity network. Probably half of your tourism hindrance in the region will be automatically solved. No one will prepare to risk their life in their maiden holidays. The pathetic imbalance in the figures of outflow of domestic tourists and inflow of international tourists in the region clearly reveals the sorry state of our tourism as an industry. International tourists knew much better about NE than what you cajole in virtual media and printed tourists booklets. Tourism is not just about marketing excellence rather more about making excellence in tourist’s infrastructure and related accessories.
