Meghalaya Hotels and Resorts See 30% Cancellation of Bookings After Stoping of Tourist Vehicles

SHILLONG:  A local organisation of Meghalaya set up its own checkpoints and prevented vehicles bearing Assam registrations from moving to certain tourism destinations of the state on Friday and this caused a massive spike in the number of cancellations in booking for accommodations in areas in and arround the capital city of Shillong. As much as 30% of bookings were cancelled by tourists to the state on the day with hints of a further increase in this number in the days to come. 

Parambir S Sehdave, president of the Federation of Shillong Hotels said that on Friday 30% of bookings were cancelled and in the coming days it will be more than 50 %. Representatives from the Tourism Operators Association of Meghalaya, Federation of Shillong Hotels, Meghalaya Rural Tourism Forum, Tour Guide Operator Association of Meghalaya, Meghalaya Tourist Development Forum, Tour Guide Association of Meghalaya and others discussed the issue. President of the Tourism Operators Association of Meghalaya, Banlum Blah, said the association will write to the state tourism minister, Paul Lyngdoh, about the incident demanding action against individuals involved in the incident of stopping the tourists. All the organisations condemned the actions of the organisation.

Hynniewtrep National Youth Front, a local organisation of Meghalaya decided to take the law into their own hands on Friday. Their members set up checkpoints at the three-way intersection that connects Shillong to Dawki and Cherrapunji, both being important tourist destinations of the state. The members stopped all vehicles with AS  registration plates at this point and forced them to turn back towards Shillong while allowing only vehicles with ML registration plates to pass. This forced a large number of tourists who had already booked their accommodations to cancel their weekend plans and turn back. 

Police and local administration later stepped into the picture and took control of the situation and facilitated the smooth movement of all vehicles in the area. Following orders from the DGP Meghalaya, a total of 10 members of the organisation were also taken into custody by the local police. But this was not before the damage had been done to the accommodation sector with 30% cancellation of accommodation bookings. 

Also Read: Meghalaya Police Detain HNYF Members Over Assam Vehicle Blockade

Also watch: