Meghalaya govt comes up with new tourism policy

Shillong, Jan 11: The state Cabinet on Wednesday approved the new state tourism policy.

Addressing media persons, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said “The idea of creating the tourism policy is to really give a proper shape and structure to the overall tourism sector keeping in mind the current situation that is there in the overall sector,” he said.

He said that things are happening in the tourism sector but then it is not happening in a systematic and structured manner. “Therefore, the policy is meant to give a complete shape to the entire process in which we want the tourism sector to grow and that we need to look at aspects of sustainability.”

Sangma said, “(The policy will look into) how do we make it sustainable…how do we ensure employment generation and entrepreneurship are achieved and ensure the local people are involved in the entire process, how do community participate in this aspect, how will the use of technology ensure the promote of tourism in the best manner and also how the different departments will work together to ensure that at the end we are really able to synergize between the departments and get the maximum output when it comes to the tourism sectors when it comes to livelihood and in term of sustainability and all the other aspects which I have mentioned.”

“Of course, to achieve these ideas and these goals that we have certain areas will have to be focused on, for example we need to focus on creating the right infrastructures in many areas that means rooms, roads, public facilities and utilities. We also need to ensure that we are able to create better circuits and we are able to improve the overall capacity of the people who are involved in the tourism sectors,” he added.

The chief minister said that the policy also talks about the safety of the tourists visiting the state. According to him, certification of the homestay will be done so that it builds up the confidence among the tourists who will be staying in those locations.

“These kinds of aspects of branding, marketing and regulations – these are the things which will be covered in the tourism policy,” he said.