Special measures to market NE

Guwahati, July 11: The Centre will soon take special measures to market tourism potentiality of the northeastern region abroad to attract foreign tourists, the Union minister of state for tourism Omak Apang said on Sunday. "The initiative will be taken very soon as there is tremendous potentiality in the tourism sector which is yet to be explored," he told reporters here. Efforts are already on to involve SAARC countries in the tourism promotional efforts and stress is being put on improving the communication infrastructure in the area, he said. Apang said he had visited Bhutan and discussed the possibility of opening up the border between eastern Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh. In exchange foreign tourists visiting Bhutan could continue on the Buddhist trail to Tawang monastery in Arunachal Pradesh and further to national parks of Kaziranga and Manas in Assam. The NE states had been given space free of cost in international trade fairs, while Rs 2 lakh each was provided exclusively to enable them to participate in order to promote Northeast tourism throughout the world, he said. A total of Rs 1,539.52 lakh was provided to develop infrastructure in the seven NE states and Sikkim during 1998-99 compared to Rs 409.89 last year, he said, adding the amount is likely to triple this year.