North Eastern Region Of India And The State Of Its Tourism   

Northeastern India is widely viewed as a homogenous and isolated entity by the general public of rest of India. It is considered as an exotic, yet unsafe region to be explored. Unfortunately intellectuals, media persons, officials, NGO activists and scholars have been unable in finding a solution to get rid of the “unsafe” tag.  

Why The Isolation?  

Though factually Northeastern India is closer to Delhi than south India but psychologically it is considered extremely far away. This may be accounted to the various British protectionist policies which were formulated for maintaining the tribal heritage's purity in this place. The region's topography is also majorly responsible for its isolation. Decades long insurgency has further harmed Northeastern India's cause. This naturally makes us question the media's role in the Northeastern region because if utilized properly it can heavily influence the minds and thinking of general public. 

Media only focuses on the under-development and ethnic conflicts prevailing in the North-east. Pioneering efforts towards developing this region are often left neglected. Hence general public only comes to know about the violence prevailing in this region. Reporting Northeastern India with sensationalism, oversimplification and overgeneralization has become today's norm as far as national dailies are concerned. Media further misleads us by associating the north-east with strange cultural practices. We even disassociate the familiar northeastern facts like Buddhist pilgrimages of Arunachal, the Brahmaputra, and Northeastern cuisines like momos, thupkas and Assam tea and so on. This ignorance can only be shed by visiting the north-east.  

Tourism Can Dispel Cultural Bias  

North-east has tremendous tourism potential and is rightly considered as an unexplored paradise. Future projections depict that both national and international tourism to this area will grow tremendously with revenues close to US $ 200 billion being generated out of it. The uniqueness and variety of north-east makes it an ideal destination for cash-rich and adventure loving travelers. Out of India's 44% share in world tourism, the contribution of north-east is only 1.2%. 

Enabling Tourism  

Tourism can only be enabled through information about north-east's offerings in terms of landscapes, festivals, arts, crafts, cultural heritage, etc. Immense resources of the north-east should be advertised and it should be promoted as a global tourism brand for attracting investors to this region.  

Infrastructure in the form of hotels, rail and road networks, etc. should be properly developed. Reaching north-east is not as difficult as is commonly thought to be as it is nicely connected through airlines and railways with the rest of India but the expenses of traveling within north-east are found to be extremely high. Internal rail and road networks are not properly developed and they are extremely time-consuming and arduous.  

Security concerns require the issue of Inner Line and Restricted area travel licenses or permits in certain parts which increases the region's inaccessibility.  

The region is highly dependent on government and the role of private sector is extremely limited. Lessons should be taken from Haryana which has successfully boosted its tourism by eliminating the various private sector roadblocks such as easing regulations and reducing taxes. Unfortunately, the tourism sector is highly taxed which further hampers its development.  

19.39% of land in India is covered by forests whereas 64% of north-east is covered by forests making it an important ecological asset of the nation and world. The region's relative inaccessibility has helped in preserving its immaculate natural beauty, fauna and flora. Hence eco-tourism would be an easily acceptable concept here.  

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