Selling Manipur to outside world :: Sangai Fest: Outstation visitors
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 01, 2022 -

Save for the 'Covid induced recess' spanning over two years-2020 and 2021-the Sangai Festival has been adorning the annual calendar of Manipur since 2010.

Now as the world steps into the last month of the year, December, perhaps it is right that one take a pause and look back at the 10 days of festival and see whether Manipur managed to sell itself as a destination to any of the outstation folks who came visiting to get a taste of the place and the people via the festival.

Outstation folks or rather tourists and to repeat a point which The Sangai Express had raised umpteen times in this column, how many outstation tourists visited the place during the 10 days period of the festival.

Take this a little further and one may well ask, 'Can the State Government give the figure of tourists who visited the State during the Sangai Festival since 2010?'

This is not the first time that The Sangai Express has raised this question and unfortunate it is that no answers have been forthcoming on this count for more than 10 years now.

To the media and obviously to the people, this question is important for everyone would like to know how the Sangai Festival has been able to sell Manipur as a tourist destination to the visitors.

No official figure would be forthcoming here, but it would be so nice and constructive to boot if the Government can work out a mechanism to know if there are any second or third time visitor for the festival.

Or is this asking for too much ?

This is not a post mortem analysis but there are certain points which the State Government would need to keep in mind to take the festival a notch or two or even three higher.

What are some points which the Government has learnt since 2010 ?

Why has no official figure been given on the number of visitors to the festival since 2010 ?

Or if it is there why hasn't the same been highlighted to the media for public consumption?

It is to the credit of the BJP led Government at Imphal that this time efforts to give some changes to the festival could be seen and perhaps the most telling is the slogan 'Festival of Oneness' that went on to underline the finer point to give some kind of a novel thrust to the festival.

It is also significant to note that the main venue of the festival shifted from Hapta Kangjeibung to Moirang Khunou which is nearer to the natural home of the Sangai, Keibul Lamjao.

Promote Manipur as a tourist destination. Sell Manipur to the outside world as a tourist destination.

Difficult to say how much the annual Sangai Festival has been able to showcase Manipur as an attractive destination to the outside world, but at least some efforts are underway and this is encouraging.

The important question however is, should the endeavour to advertise Manipur as a spot worth visiting to the tourists be understood only through the prism of Sangai Festival ?

The answer should be obvious to everyone.

Promoting tourism cannot be seen in isolation of many other important points such as roads and communication, the hospitality sector, the law and order situation, power supply, water supply, addressing the traffic congestion etc.

Tourism cannot be a stand alone sector and it would involve so many other aspects. In short it should boil down to the basics of governance.

And has the Government and its arms understood the real essence of governance ?

How about the people? A filthy, dirty place is not exactly a place anyone would love to visit and this is where questions ought to be raised on how well aware are the people on the need to maintain hygiene?

Hygiene not only within the confine of one's dwelling place but how they conduct themselves in the public sphere.

This is where the responsibility of the people comes in.

The Sangai Festival is over and before Manipur opens up her arms to welcome next year's edition of the same, the Government and the people should start giving some serious thought on how to make the festival more meaningful and in the process hardsell Manipur to the outside world.