‘Developing sustainable tourism in Nagaland State’

January 20, 2024 41 Views No Comment

2nd Nagaland International Trade Expo underway in Dimapur

Morung Express News
Dimapur | January 20

Keeping in line with the State and Central government’s vision of promoting Nagaland’s tourism through its endowment of natural beauty and rich culture, speakers during the panel discussion titled, ‘Developing Sustainable Tourism in Nagaland’ on January 19 noted several key points including the need to upscale carrying capacity for tourists, taking the community into confidence as stakeholders and identifying potential areas for future growth.

The panel discussion was part of the 2nd Nagaland International Trade Expo held at Senden Riju, Purana Bazar, Dimapur which is a five day event (January 18-22) bringing business groups, entrepreneurs, government, financial and industry experts under a single platform for exchanging ideas and building connections.

Among the speakers, Veyielo Doulo, Additional Director, State Department of Tourism highlighted that as far as tourism is concerned, the state has an abundance of attractive sites and events to experience. However, a concerning issue is the lack of carrying capacity for huge number of tourists which is especially evident while hosting the Hornbill Festival in Kohima, he said.

In the past, he explained that several projects had been implemented haphazardly without direction or consideration of its success, resulting in wasteful spending of resources. The department has been carefully examining these mistakes and now projects are being built according to the needs of the tourists. With regard to sustainable tourism, he stated that the government needs to take the community into confidence as stakeholders before implementing any project.

He cited the example of Khonoma village as taking the lead in successfully implementing sustainable tourism, through community participation in preservation of flora and fauna, cleanliness of natural surroundings etc. The village has been given the designation of ‘Asia’s first green village.’ Several villages have also begun to implement these policies, he said, like Touphema, Changtongya and Mopungchuket.

Tokaho Kinimi, IFS, Wildlife warden of Dimapur meanwhile explained that sustainable tourism and ecotourism/ wildlife tourism in the context of Nagaland has to be carefully implemented so as to avoid mass tourism, which the state is unable to accommodate. “We need to focus our efforts not on mass tourism but ecotourism, value added tourism and for which we require talented manpower,” he said.

Currently, there exists only one national park and two wildlife sanctuaries, making up about 238 sq kilometers, Kinimi informed. This is due to the fact that maximum of the land is owned by the community or individuals and so any tourism project will have to be implemented in these lands, he said.

So far, there are 137 notified community reserves and out of these, 72 have ongoing projects in respect to wildlife preservation. “When you take into consideration these community reserves, it adds up to more than 800 sq kilometers that have a high potential for ecotourism,” he viewed.

Ruhul Amin, Assistant High Commissioner of Bangladesh (Guwahati) discussed on the consequences that global warming has had on the environment, evident from the increase in temperatures in the Indian subcontinent over the last few years.

In Bangladesh, several coastal areas are already submerging, he said. As such, the official stated that the goal of each society or state should not only be to develop but to do so in a sustainable manner.

Concerning tourism, he stated that it is a significant contributor to the economy. Over the last few years, 16 lakh visas have been issued by the Indian High Commission to Bangladeshi citizens to come to India, he reported.

The other co-panelists included Yanren Jami, Co-founder of 4X4 Attitude; Bobby Singh, General Manager of Zone by the Park Niathu; and Veluzo Tetseo, General Secretary of Nagaland Association of Tour Operators.