Boosting tourism in North-east will make India all season tourist destination: Tourism Secretary

Agartala (Tripura) [India], Nov 24 (ANI): Union Tourism Secretary Rashmi Verma on Friday said that the government of India is taking several steps to boost the tourism potential of Northeastern states which would turn India into an all season tourist destination.
Verma made these remarks while speaking to reporters during a press conference on the sidelines of the 7th edition of the International Tourism Mart, in which 52 foreign delegates from 18 countries are taking part.
Sharing statistics of foreign and domestic tourists visiting the state, she outlined that there has been a good increase in their numbers owing to better connectivity.
"The flow of foreign tourists visiting the northeastern states increased by 16.7 percent than the previous year while the domestic tourists visiting the region increased by 22.8 percent, and this mainly because of better air and road connectivity," she said.
She added that globally there has been a change in the tourism trend and today tourists instead of sightseeing prefer experiential tourism, in which Northeast India has an advantage, hence making it a more popular destination for foreign tourists.
According to Verma, the government of India is focusing on developing tourism in Northeast India as this region offers round the year tourism opportunities owing to its pleasant weather clubbed with rich flora and fauna.
She announced that the government of India has a target of doubling the number of tourists visiting northeast India, within the next three years.
According to her, the numbers of tourist visiting the Northeast region were highest last year with 10.2 million people doing so. She also asserted that this was the first time when the figure touched the double-digit mark.
Sharing the comparative data of tourists visiting different North-eastern states, Verma informed that Tripura received the highest number of foreign tourist among all northeastern states whereas in domestic tourist segment the state's position was fourth in the tally.
"Sikkim had 13 lakh domestic tourists last year and the number is three times more than the state's population. A large number of tourists are flocking the state capital Gangtok. To keep up with the increasing tourism activity, government of India and Sikkim are trying to open up new destination to attract more foreign tourist," she said.
Highlighting Government of India's efforts to boost tourism in the region, Verma also revealed that out of total 67 tourism projects are being executed in the country with a cost of Rs 5600 crores, 15 projects worth Rs 1300 crores lie in the Northeastern region. (ANI)