Government aid to help lure tourists to Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh is known for its biodiversity, unmatched beauty and rich cultural heritage. Yet, of the seven million foreign tourists visiting India, only 5,000 visit the state.
Backed by Centre's support, Arunachal Pradesh is all out to augment its infrastructure and bridge connectivity gaps to lure in more domestic and foreign visitors to the North-Eastern state.
Union tourism ministry led by Minister Mahesh Sharma himself is reaching out with projects and financial support to boost local tourism prospects. Sharma was recently on a two-day visit to the North-East, including Arunachal, during which he was accompanied by the State Chief Minister Nabam Tuki, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju and senior officials.
Arunachal Pradesh is known for its biodiversity, unmatched beauty and rich cultural heritage. Yet, of the seven million foreign tourists visiting India, only 5,000 visit the state.
State tourism secretary Joram Beda said: "We need to aggressively work on the sector in the state. We are a state with many unique features. Punjab is known as the land of rivers, but what many forget is that five of the major Himalayan rivers - Siang, Kameng, Subansiri, Lohit and Tirap - flow through Arunachal Pradesh and there are nine wildlife parks. These rivers make for ideal river rafting experience."
"The Siang river starts at Tuting and goes all the way to the plains of Pashighat. It traverses through dense forests, making it grade four on the difficulty level for river rafting enthusiasts. The Seppa-Bhalukpung route and the rapids on the Subansiri river are some of the most soughtafter rapids." said Beda, who was speaking at the recently organised Mail Today Tourism Summit 2015 in New Delhi.
"Arunachal is ideal for many adventure sports. We hope to develop the state to make it commercially viable," added Beda.
Beckoning tourists to the state, Beda said that it was not just business for tour operators to get travellers to Arunachal Pradesh, "but also part of their national duty".
He said: "Unknown to most, we also have religious tourism sites and we have a Mahabharata connect too. This place is supposed to be the Prabhu Mountains of the Puranas. According to a Hindu mythological legend, Arunachal Pradesh was the place where sage Parshuram washed away his sin, sage Vyasa meditated, King Bhishmaka founded his kingdom and Lord Krishna married his consort Rukmini. The largest natural shivling in the world at a height of 25 feet is in Ziro, which is also known for its music festival." The state is home to many Buddhist temples. Beda said: "There are the nunneries of Tawang besides the Urgelling and the Chilipam monasteries. Tawang, Bomdila and Mechuka are centres of Mahayana Buddhism, while Tezu, Namsai and Lohit have got several Hinayana Buddhism centres."
Since more needs to be done to get investment into the state, Beda said they are creating a land bank for leading hoteliers to develop properties in the state.