NEW DELHI, April 18 — Launching of massive marketing campaign to promote North Eastern Region (NER) as a tourist destination, contradict the performance of the Tourism Ministry, as funds allocated for the Region for development and promotion of tourism go unutilised during the last financial year. The Departments of Tourism and the Region’s State Governments seem yet to wake up from the intertia, as funds go waste but no perceptible improvement on the ground so much so that exercises to fully explore the tourism potential of the region are yet to be undertaken.
The Department of Tourism has recently launched a massive nation-wide campaign to woo domestic tourists to the region. The prevailing state-of-affairs disheartened the Parliamentary Standing Committee attached to the Ministry of Transport, Tourism and Culture forcing it to pass critical comments on the activities of the tourism departments. “Despite incurring a lot of expenditure for development of tourism in the NER no perceptible improvement has been observed on the ground and a lot more has to be done to fully explore the tourism potential of this region,” it remarked.
The Committee to its dismay detected that the Department of Tourism failed to indicate anything about the amount spent on the developmental activities undertaken in the NER. During last financial year a large chunk of the Rs 22.5 crore set apart for the region, was left unspent. In the annual plan for the region an amount of Rs 32.5 crore has been earmarked. The committee was told that the amount would be utilised for completing the ongoing projects and up gradation of various tourist facilities.
For instance in the case of Assam, as many as 53 projects are lying incomplete out of total 62 projects sanctioned for the State. Assam was sanctioned Rs 18.40 crore of which Rs 6.83 crore has been released. Its achievement is only nine projects completed in the Ninth Plan period. The story of other North Eastern States is similar. Arunachal Pradesh a State being promoted as a prominent tourist destination, has 38 incomplete projects of 45 sanctioned projects. Meghalaya, which has been sanctioned 26 projects, could complete only two in the entire Ninth Plan period.
Lack of coordination of between Department of Tourism and the State Governments in undertaking developmental activities in tourism projects, besides low level of monitoring and review of projects were cited as some of the prime factors responsible for such a huge backlog. Non-completion of projects not only led to cost overruns of the projects but also the tourist potential in the country could not be exploited fully in absence of the facilities, which could be made available otherwise.
The Parliamentary Committee was informed that several measures were adopted to boost tourism in the NER. They included introduction of new schemes like Integrated Development of Tourism Circuits and Products-Infrastructure and Destination Development for Central financial assistance during the 10th Plan.
During the current financial year the tourism circuit of Shillong-Guwahati-Kaziranga-Tezpur-Bhalukpung-Tawang-Majuli-Sivasagar-Kohima has been identified for development. Besides, it has been proposed to develop one major destination in each State annually. A chapter of Indian Institute of Travel and Tourism Management at Guwahati has been proposed to be introduced during the year, besides setting up a full-fledged Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology at Shillong and Guwahati.
The Department has further promised a free booth to the North Eastern States at ITB Berlin one of the world’s largest international tourism fairs. In addition, financial assistance has been assured for promotion of fairs and festivals every year in a continuing basis. Special focus was laid on NE in the marketing plans of overseas offices of the Ministry. Production of a video film on tourist attractions in the North-East has been proposed among other steps to promote the Region as a tourist destination.