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It is well-documented that tourism today is the fastest growing industry in the world and is projected to grow faster in the next decade. Yet, India with its stupendous variety, be its architecture, wildlife, or arts and crafts, attract only 0.4 per cent of global tourists and of that, only 5 percent is garnered by Eastern India . Which is a shame because the diversity in this region from West Bengal to Sikkim to the North-East is enough to attract tourists of different interests- pristine natural beauty to cater to the adventure tourist, multifaceted ethnic cultures to entice anthropology and heritage lovers, and biodiversity to attract eco-tourists and wildlife lovers which can indeed prove to be a tourist's paradise. Unfortunately, the potential has not been explored even half-way. Add to that perceptions about the north-eastern states, its infrastructural problems, its image as a hotbed of insurgency – and for foreigners, restrictions like Inner Line Permit in many states- all have dammed the flow of eager tourists. However, of late some of the perceptions have been changing and domestic tourists flock to the North-East especially during the festive season. Yet, an image makeover is still very much the need of the day as also better co-operation among the states so that a tourist destination circuit becomes viable which can attract budget and cost-conscious tourist.
To explore these possibilities the Indian Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with North East Tourism Development Council and Department of Tourism (NETDC), Government of West Bengal recently held a two-day summit, Tourism@ Resurgent East at Kolkata's ITC Sonar Bangla Sheraton Hotel. Eastern states Assam , Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura not only made their presentations showcasing their attractions but also put up an exhibition to display their beautiful handmade artefacts.
The West Bengal Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee while inaugurating the summit emphasised how the state is gearing up to attract more tourists by concentrating on sectors like tea tourism, eco-tourism , and heritage tourism. Neighbouring Orissa, and particularly Chattisgarh, a new state which also grapples with the image of an extremist-infested land, made their presence felt. The latter especially tried to prove forcefully how the ‘unsafe' image is more a creation of the media than the real scenario.
Clearly, strategies of individual states have to be defined and worked on if east India 's tourism sector has to achieve its potential and resurge as was the aim of the meet. To learn from the ‘success' stories, Dubai Tourism, UK Tourism Authority (Visitbritain), Singapore Tourism Board, Thailand Tourism Authority were also invited to elaborate on how their tourism strategies have been planned to make them click. Dubai especially is a case in point. A place long known more for shopping and nothing much, now attracts a high number of tourists from across the globe by working on concepts like desert tourism, festival tourism, etc. Visitbritain looks at ‘consumer branding' to define areas for promotion - from student tourism to Scotch Whiskey promotion, and not forgetting Bollywood film inspired tourism, etc. and then plans likewise.
Summits such as these tend to end up a date in the diary unless the lessons learnt are carried forward. Meanwhile, a good beginning to better opening –up of the East was initiated during the summit as Kingfisher Airlines, a sponsor, announced a strategic tie-up with NETDC to initiate package tours to the region.
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