IIM Shillong organized e-symposium on tourism (Opportunities in NER)

SHILLONG: The Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Centre for Policy Research & Analysis under the aegis of IIM Shillong on Saturday hosted an e-symposium on "Tourism (Opportunities in NER) under the e-Symposia Series on Emergent North East India: Strategic and Developmental Imperatives."

Chairman of the Board of Governors, IIM Shillong Shishir Bajoria while welcoming the participants and speaking of northeastern States' bountiful nature and culture remarked, "This needs to be projected to a great extent, to the rest of the country, and to the world at large. We have huge scope of religious, festival, nature and archaeological tourism to name a few, which we are sure are aspects that the whole world would like to witness, but for this we have are in great need of international level infrastructural development. It is time to refocus on these requirements which can also directly impact the economic growth of the region."

He also stressed on infrastructure development of NER and collaboration of educational institutions for improving the tourism sector, while also pointing out the requirement for improving connectivity and involvement of big private players to kick start tourism in all the states.

Congratulating IIM Shillong and its leadership on its effort despite the current pandemic constraints, the chief guest of the event Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of Culture & Tourism, Govt of India said,

"Perception change is more valuable than wealth. We have a great opportunity in front of us, to change adversity into positivity by showcasing the picturesque beauty of NER and targeting a different audience who have till now opted to travel overseas than to experience tourism in their own backyard. This may be a good time to augment domestic tourism in the Northeast. We need to weigh all options while coming out of the current pandemic, and subsequently open our doors to international tourists as well."

Also watch: Morning Bulletin | 20th June. 2020