Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Mar 19: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today laid down the target of doubling Northeast tourism in next three years.
Speaking after the signing of an MoU by world’s leading American company dealing in hospitality and tourism, “Airbnb International” with North Eastern Council (NEC) and North-Eastern Tourism Development Council (NETDC), Dr Jitendra Singh said, the aim of the MoU will be to create hospitality related micro-entrepreneurs across key destinations in the North Eastern region of India.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, North Eastern region is blessed with diversity of scenic beauty which has hitherto remained unexplored and un-visited. This is partly because of issues of lack of connectivity and transport as well as lack of promotion of tourist in-flow into the region, he said.
The MoU with “Airbnb”, world renowned tourism company, will supplement our efforts of doubling the tourist growth rate in the next three years by creating more sustainable accommodation options and enhancing the hospitality service standards in the region. “Airbnb”, he said, will also generate technology enabled livelihood opportunities in tourism and hospitality.
In the last over three years, Dr Jitendra Singh said, tourist in-flow has considerably picked up in the region. Some of the destinations like Gangtok and Shillong are getting over-booked during the peak season, he said. This has also been possible, he said, because of increased connectivity like, for example, the first-ever airport having become functional at Pakyong, Sikkim and the airport at Shillong being upgraded.
Emphasizing on promotion of “home-tourism”, Dr Jitendra Singh said, in the last three years, it has emerged as a major avenue of livelihood in the region and at the same time, it has also taken over much of the load of conventional hotel accommodations which was resulting in charging of excessive tariff by some hotels.
Inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for Northeast, the approach in the next few years will be to develop lesser known but highly potential tourist destinations, accompanied by other ancillary support, in order to hold out immense promise for tourists, both domestic as well as international.
Also present during the signing of MoU were Union Secretary Naveen Verma, Secretary NEC Ram Muivah and Regional Director, Airbnb Asia-Pacific, Kumhong Siew.
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