Living up to the name of a tourism festival : Time for the Govt to open up
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 24, 2014 -
A tourism festival. More specifically Sangai Tourism Festival.
More than obvious that the State Government has its eyes on showcasing Manipur to the outside world through this festival.
Apt name too for Sangai is to be found only in Manipur, highlighting the uniqueness of the place. Little wonder then that the State Government has left no stone unturned in all these years in trying to put Manipur on the tourist map, whenever the time comes to host the Sangai Festival.
Taking the geographical location of the place into consideration, it is therefore not surprising to see the State Government trying to extract the maximum benefits from India’s Look East Policy.
Not for nothing is it that the State Government has decided to open up the sky to chartered flights between Imphal and Myanmar during the period of the ten day festival.
A practise that dates back a couple of years and perfectly complementing the initiative of the State Government, this year the Chief Minister of Chin State of the neighbouring country along with a team of delegates arrived for the opening day of the Sangai Festival.
Difficult to say whether this would lead to any investment and increased commercial activities between Myanmar, South East Asian countries and Manipur in the future, but it is heartening to note that the State Government at least seems to have woken up to the real meaning of the term Tourism Festival, which is central to the Sangai Festival.
This is encouraging and it is here that the need to raise certain questions arises.
Apart from the team which accompanied the Chin Chief Minister on the opening day of the festival, how many tourists from Myanmar and beyond have arrived here ?
The figure is not with us, but it would do a whole lot of good for all if the State Government releases the list of foreign and domestic tourists who come here to attend the Sangai Festival.
A comparative list with the earlier editions of the festival may then be made.
The list for this year may be released for public consumption after the festival but surely there can be nothing wrong in letting everyone know of the number of tourists who arrived for the festival earlier. Something which is not beyond the State Government.
So far no statistics have been issued for public consumption and this gives rise to the uncomfortable feeling that the State Government may be deliberately keeping mum since the number of tourists, domestic and foreign, is too less or too meagre.
If this is the case, then it would be in the fitness of things to study how the number can be increased.
Let no effort be spared to live up to the name of a Tourism Festival.
This should be the calling card of the State Government whenever the Sangai Festival comes knocking.
* Comments posted by users in this discussion thread and other parts of this site are opinions of the individuals posting them (whose user ID is displayed alongside) and not the views of e-pao.net. We strongly recommend that users exercise responsibility, sensitivity and caution over language while writing your opinions which will be seen and read by other users. Please read a complete Guideline on using comments on this website.