Noney to host World Tourism Day : Attracting visitors to the State
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 27 2019 -

Tourism. A term which Manipur has got used to down the years.

More specifically it is tourism potential. Potential but has this been realised ?

Is Manipur on the map of tourists across the country, forget about the international community.

Tough to say but as claimed by Chief Minister N Biren Singh visitors to the State have increased appreciably and this is encouraging.

Imphal Evening or Night Plaza which started amid much brouhaha came to an end in a whimper, perhaps due to want of customers and visitors, and this is where the Government would do wise to draw a lesson or two from.

In the first place, the food stalls opened at the said Plaza offered eatables which were costly, maybe much beyond the reach of the folks who have the time and the inclination to visit such places.

Moreover there weren’t anything much noteworthy to draw in the crowd, despite the efforts of the Government to put up show stoppers to draw the crowds, such as the short lived musical extravaganza.

This is where The Sangai Express had suggested that something extraordinary be put in place to draw the crowd.

Maybe the Government badly needed event management firms and this is where the need to reach out to the private players emerges.

Reach out and take them into confidence and tell them that their job is to draw in the crowds.

More than sure that there must be enterprising youngsters who can come up with bright ideas to draw in the crowds.

Even the annual Sangai Festival can be so much more hyped than the usual show by roping in private players.

The Home Stay arrangements made for the Shirui Lily Festival is one such example.

Now Noney has been made the venue for the World Tourism Day in Manipur on September 27.

“Tourism and Job : A better future for all”, is the theme under which the day will be observed with India as the host country.

All fine but will this day be reduced to just another day in September is a question which many would want to raise.

Not surprising that the people of Noney have geared up to host the day in a fitting manner, but remember so many other States would be doing the same.

What are the ways to attract tourists to the State is a question that begs attention of the State Government and the people as a whole.

And how many outside visitors have the Sangai Festival been able to attract in the last few years, since the BJP led coalition Government came to power ?

These are but some questions which need some answers from the departments concerned.

How is the road that connects Noney to Imphal ?

What about the accommodation facilities at Noney ?

These are questions which the Tourism Department and the Chief Minister himself should be able to answer.

Fumbling in front of hard posed questions will not do.

Get everything ready, for tourism is a viable alternative for the numerous, talented youngsters of the land and the Government should look beyond the natural beauty of the place and see what it can do to attract tourists, particularly foreign tourists to Manipur.