11 Jan, 2013
First Travel Mart To Be Held Jan 18-20 in India’s Restive Northeast Region
Ministry of Tourism, 10-January, 2013 – The Union Ministry of Tourism will organise an International Tourism Mart at Guwahati from 18-20 Jan. Announcing this at a press conference in New Delhi today, Union Tourism Minister Mr. K. Chiranjeevi said that this will not only be the first ever International Tourism event to be organised in the north-eastern region, but also the first International Tourism Mart to focus on a specific region of India.
He said “It will bring together the tourism business fraternity and entrepreneurs from the eight north eastern States of India and West Bengal. The event has been planned and scheduled to facilitate interaction between buyers, sellers, media, Government agencies and others.
The Minister said that about 100 delegates including tourism Ministers, Tourism Secretaries, Tour operators, Hoteliers and Media Representatives from Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Combodia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, The Philippines, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States of America and Vietnam will be attending. Trade meetings with sellers from the north eastern region and West Bengal will help them to reach out to international and domestic buyers.
The Minister said the event will include, presentations, cultural evenings and press meets with the media from India and overseas. Post-Mart familiarisation tours to the states in the region have been arranged by the State Governments for the overseas delegates, from the 21-28 January 2013 to create awareness about the rich and varied tourism products of the states of the north eastern region and give them first-hand knowledge and experience of the destination.
Mr. Chiranjeevi disclosed that celebrity artistes such as Lou Majaw from Meghalaya, Rubin from Manipur, Mami Varte from Mizoram and Debojit Saha, Dikshu, Priyanka Bharali, Manas Robin, Joy Chakravarty, Simanta Shekhor, Mousam Gogoi and Papori Sharma from Assam will perform at the Mart.
The north east region of India comprising the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim, is endowed with diverse tourist attractions and products. The varied topography of the region, its flora and fauna, the ethnic communities with their rich heritage of ancient traditions and lifestyles, festivals, arts and crafts, make it a holiday destination waiting to be explored.
Considering the contiguous features of West Bengal with the north east, the state has been included in the Mart.
Meanwhile, the two-day 8th North East Business Summit organised jointly by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) and the Indian Chamber of Commerce concluded on January 10. On the occasion, Mr. Sam Pitroda, Advisor to Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure & Innovations, Planning Commission, said that the NE states should focus on three initiatives for improvement – Infrastructure, Information System & Innovation. He said that the NE states have human capacity and potential. They should take more responsibility and initiative, demand more and do more.
The Summit had focused Sessions on critical sectors & issues including – Infrastructure & Connectivity through PPPs; Exclusive Investors’ Meet with the Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region & NE Industry Ministers; Border Trade; Tourism & Hospitality opportunities; Oil & Gas; Horticulture & Food Processing; Education & Skill Development; Financial Inclusion, etc. The Exclusive ICC NDTV Profit Panel Discussion on “Agenda for North East: Taking Quantum Leap” raised meaningful deliberations revolving around issues like – capacity building both in terms of labour and capital in the region; ICT Roadmap for the NER ; Review of the NEIIPP 2007 ; current status of the various Infrastructure projects in the region, etc.
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