Yet another Tourism Day celebration for formality
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: September 29, 2021 -

UNMISTAKABLY, the state's tourism potential generally comes to the fore during celebration of the World Tourism Day or when the Sangai Tourism Festival is round the corner.

While importance of the tourism sector in spurring economic development for any country or region has been inaudible for nearly two years consequent to outbreak of the novel coronavirus, it is unlikely that Manipur would be seeing much tourist footfall even after the pandemic subsides on account of the existing ordinary tourism infrastructure not to mention of the unpredictable law and order condition.

Leaving aside the impact of the prevailing contagious disease on tourism industry, it's a fact that Manipur has been unable to take advantage of even a minuscule portion of its vast potential, in-spite of the tourism sector considered to require minimal investment compared to other sectors.

Newly entrusted with the tourism portfolio, minister Oinam Lukhoi, like all his predecessors, expressed strong optimism that Manipur indeed has tremendous potential to see acceleration of development in the tourism industry during the state-level World Tourism Day celebration held on Monday at the scenic Ramrei village in Kamjong district.

Like all other ministers before him, there's nothing wrong with Lukhoi stating that the government has been taking up various projects to fully tap the state's potential in the tourism sector but such an assertion seems to be merely functional formality if one takes note of the fact that at the global, national and regional level, Manipur is not a serious contender in the race for development of the tourism sector.

For instance, this summer popular tourist destinations like Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Goa, to name a few states, saw spike in the inflow of pilgrims and common tourists even during the height of the coronavirus pandemic subsequently forcing the health experts to caution that the surge in the number of tourists will abet aggravation of the pandemic situation.

Contrary to these states generating healthy revenue when many others were struggling to contain the virus, Manipur has not been able to draw tourists in significant numbers for the past many years in-spite of its glorified tourism potential, thereby implying that the proclamations on development of the tourism sector get most intense only twice a year.

Interestingly, it has become chronic to hear government authorities repetitively claiming at political events that the law and order situation has improved to a great extent and tourists are getting increasingly attracted to the , state's scenic charm, only for the narrative to change during tourism related functions when the same set of leaders make it a point to appeal to the masses to contribute their mite in erasing the chapter of restiveness in the state.

Moreover, the fact remains that the only perceptible change to the tourism sector in the state is limited to delegates arriving on official assignments, and youngsters and officials for competing in sports events while inflow of non-natives into the state comprise mostly migrant workers coming here to take up manual jobs left vacant owing to the locals' reluctance to either toil or lack of technical expertise.

Thus, there is need for serious introspection by the policy makers on why Manipur despite being endowed with both physical and human diversities, considered essential to draw tourists, is yet to figure on the map of global tourism.

Hopefully, celebration of this year's World Tourism Day under the theme 'Tourism for Inclusive Growth' will make the policy-makers realise that from the industrial point of view, tourism promotion should follow a marketing-oriented approach, so that it can stand as a productive sector amidst the competitive tourism market environment.