Shillong, June 20: Union Minister of Culture and Tourism, Prahlad Singh Patel on Saturday called for changing ‘adversity into positivity’ during the COVID-19 pandemic period.

“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 the North Eastern Region and targeting a different audience who have till now opted to travel overseas than to experience tourism in their own backyard,” he said.

Patel was addressing an e-symposium on Tourism (Opportunities in NER) under the e-Symposia Series on Emergent North East India: Strategic and Developmental Imperatives organised by the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Centre for Policy Research & Analysis under the aegis of Indian Institute of Management-Shillong.

“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,” he observed

“.. This can only become possible when the government, tour operators and key stakeholders work together responsibly to ensure that the tourist experience remains memorable,” Patel said, underscoring for strengthening connectivity and hoped for regional cooperation to increase convenience for tourists.

In his valedictory address, Deputy Chief Minister of Tripura, Jishnu Debbarma who dwelt largely on the current pandemic and the importance of reviving the economy, urged IIM Shillong to work towards creation of ideas and innovation while being sensitive to the diversity of North Eastern States so as to create a better understanding of the region even amongst mainstream Indian populace.

Highlighting the adverse impact of COVID-19 on the tourism sector, speakers delved on the need for confidence building measures to build trust across stakeholders and strengthening them to remain business ready, increasing accessibility, and also increasing facets of hygiene for the sector to bounce back, including prospects to ascertain return on investment through tourism promotion amongst others.

Chairman of the Board of Governors, IIM-Shillong, Shishir Bajoria, speaking of north-eastern 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 a 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 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 the North Eastern Region 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.

Prof. Keya Sengupta, Centre Coordinator, stressed on converting the current crisis into an opportunity, and find out ways and means through deliberations with policy makers, entrepreneurs, consumers and other Stakeholders into ideating towards an enriched and new tourism model, and further channelize the learning’s through close coordination with the Ministry of DoNER and North Eastern Council to come up with some innovative policies so that the sector can contribute significantly in the development of the region.