“We want to remove ‘hidden’ and ‘unexplored’ taglines at the earliest. We want to embark on an aggressive promotion to make the world know about Arunachal Pradesh,” said Pasang D Sona, Tourism Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, at the valedictory of the ATOAI (Adventure Tour Operators Association of India) convention in Tawang recently. The minister’s statement is not an isolated one. There is a general disillusionment in the tourism industry in the northeast about the region being clubbed as one for tourism promotions and tagged as “Paradise Unexplored’ for decades together.
Although the immediate provocation for the new thought process among the region’s tourism stakeholders is the unending disturbances in Manipur, which have cast a shadow on the entire region’s tourism, they are not openly attributing it to the same.
It’s not just the private industry stakeholders; policymakers also share similar sentiments. Oken Tayeng, an MLA of Arunachal Pradesh and a member of the National Tourism Advisory Council (NTAC) of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, also demanded a review of the tradition of clubbing the entire northeast region for marketing and promotions as one block.
“30 years ago, it, of course, made sense. There was only one airport at Guwahati and the rest of the states were difficult to access. Things have changed over the years. The tagline ‘Paradise Unexplored’ is out of place and misleading in the present context. All states have strong individual characteristics. So defining it with one imagery, culture, and destination is wrong,” said Tayeng.
Himanta Biswa, Chief Minister of Assam, himself talked about the perception challenge the region is facing and the need to remove long-standing misconceptions at the recent International Tourism Mart (ITM) at Kaziranga in Assam. A lot of foreign countries consider the Northeast to be a disturbed area and have blanket travel restrictions. The CM said there is a need to remove such restrictions, considering the improved security situations.
Private industry stakeholders also joined the chorus with strong arguments favouring unbundling of the region for marketing, branding and promotions. “When you promote NE as one destination, you are not doing justice to the region. The whole concept of NE as one block needs to be broken. People approach us for 4 to 5-day itineraries for the entire region. Northeast is so vast that it cannot be seen in a lifetime.,” says Devraj Barooah, a young tour operator specialised in bespoke tours of NE. “When we talk about other regions, we talk about individual states; why is only the Northeast promoted as one block?” he asked.
Hoihnu Hauzel, an independent journalist and founder of Northeast Odyssey, also favoured unbundling of the Northeast for branding and promotions as “it dilutes the identities of each state.” “We must be aware that each state offers distinct tourism products and when we club them conveniently as one entity, it dilutes the identities of each state. We are not then focussing on the strength of what each state has to offer. It is, therefore, important to clearly talk about each state,” she said.
“I am not in favour of clubbing the entire NE as one for tourism,” says Rezina Mihu, CMD, Mishmi Hills Group, who promotes culture and adventure tourism in the Dibang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh. “There is so much in one district of Arunachal Pradesh alone,” he said, talking about the Anini district and the Dibang valley. “There are 26 major tribes and 100s of sub-tribes in one district, offering so much in terms of culture and nature. My entire focus is on Arunachal now,” he said.
Meanwhile, the tourism industry in the northeast has come out openly against the poor selection of international buyers for the recent International Tourism Mart (ITM) hosted by the Union Tourism Ministry. The 12th edition of the ITM was held at Kaziranga in Assam between November 27 to 29, 2024. Despite the tourism ministry chartering a flight to take domestic and international buyers to Guwahati for the B2B destination showcase event, the local tourism industry stakeholders, around 70 of whom have taken space for B2B exchanges, had a ‘no show’.
Senior industry people attributed it to the lack of expertise in Indian missions abroad, and they are credited with the responsibility of promoting the Incredible India brand abroad after the closure of Indian tourism offices. “The India missions have no technical knowledge about the travel trade in their respective territories. The majority of the buyers were people of the Indian diaspora who promote outbound packages from India to their respective destinations,” said a travel trade veteran who is a stakeholder in cruise tourism in the Northeast.
“They were not serious buyers. Normally, the ministry consults with the local stakeholders in the selection of buyers. This time there were no such consultations,” said a senior member of the tour operators association of Assam.
“I had two meetings with international buyers that too during one of the networking events. I am not sure about the business potential of those meetings,” said another tour operator.
