By Paramjit Bakhshi
Finally it seems that things are changing and might change for the better. For the last four decades one has been hearing about the tourism potential of Meghalaya and things have just been sliding. Till the seventies the GS road was a pleasure to drive on and was in itself a tourist attraction. Since the late eighties things have just gotten worse, with the result that a leisurely two hour drive on a rickety Ambassador taxi from Guwahati to Umiam now takes four hours and occasionally up to seven hours (as it happened on the first day of the autumn Festival 2011) in our swanky new generation cars.
That Meghalaya has immense tourist potential goes without saying. Even on my first drive up to the state in 1976, Meghalaya didn’t appear to me, as the name a little miserly suggested, just the abode of the clouds. It appeared to be a land draped with the magical mist of romance, of hills covered with ripening pineapples, sparkling streams and markets teeming with ripe red plums and bottles laden weary with honey. To one’s jaded eyes much of that has been lost. I hope we do not lose it all. It is difficult in the face of things, as Shelley recommends, “to hope till hope creates, from its own wreck the very thing it contemplates.”
Hope needs a glimmer of light and perhaps the first glimmer of light peeped out quietly during the seminar on “Avenues for Entrepreneurship in Tourism” conducted at Pinewood Hotel, few days ago. It was a seminar with a difference in many ways from the scores of seminars one has attended in the last three decades or more.
To begin with it was not; as such seminars mostly are, confined just to the Shillong public. People came from different corners of the state. This made it very inclusive. Also the fact that we did not have resource people to lecture us from Delhi or some antiquated consulting house made it realistic and a down to earth exercise. Most of the resource personnel such as Deepak Laloo, Dennis Ryan, Mr Brian Daley, Mr Manji La and the cousins Zorba and Aaron Laloo were people who have had hands on experience in managing different facets of tourism activity within the state or region. Yet even these two things were not the most remarkable aspects of the seminar. What was truly remarkable and refreshing was the attitude of the government officials. Everybody for once seemed genuinely interested in promoting tourism and their approach was open, friendly, and interactive.
To begin with the Chief Minister, Dr. Mukul Sangma’s speech was not the usual pre written spiel which politicians deliver but displayed a conceptual understanding of the problems and opportunities associated with this sector. What also came across was his energy and dedication to the task at hand. Ms R V Suchiang did not just give the welcome address or merely present the Mission Document but interacted enthusiastically even when she did not occupy the dais. Similarly Dr Shakil Ahhamed came across not as our ordinary indifferent bureaucrat but as very receptive and open minded government representatives. It is this new atmosphere of open public – government interaction which perhaps offers us a glimmer of hope.
Of course there is a lot to be done before Meghalaya reaps the benefits from this sector. To begin with our connectivity problems have become bigger with increased truck traffic. Many Southeast Asian countries which had very little natural potential have gained major market share on account of better connectivity. During a trip to Genting Highlands in Malaysia one noted that in terms of natural beauty we are far above such locations but when it comes to connectivity and innovation they beat us hands down. With Meghalaya’s natural beauty just better connectivity will lead to manifold increase in tourist footfalls. With so much to offer we should be getting repeat visitors but this is not happening primarily due to congestion on our highway. People are unlikely to come here time and again if they have to spend a major portion of their time stuck in traffic jams. Yet it is the repeat travellers who can help us dispense with costly marketing campaigns by providing word of mouth publicity. The reality is that even corporate sponsors are reluctant to host events in the state on account of our choked highways.
Of course tourism infrastructure is required but the way the government has approached this issue in the past has not helped matters at all. Most of the government budget in this sector has gone on government run businesses. What has happened as a consequence is that instead of encouraging all business organisations we have propped up giant loss making projects which like the Crowbourough hotel which have not even begun operations or like the Cherrapunjee and Nongpoh units run into losses and have had to be leased out. We all know it is not the government’s business to be in business but somehow one still sees a monstrous ugly building coming up in the pristine Pinewood premises. Instead of spending large sums of public money on such projects which may require additional amounts every year to keep them going would it not be better if government created such infrastructure for entrepreneurs?
Though the new incentive scheme is a step in the right direction it is perhaps a too little too late. The thirty percent subsidy on construction of additional rooms for home-stays and resorts is actually very miniscule if land cost is included towards the project cost. More over the scheme is flawed in many aspects. When one adds rooms it is imperative that common facilities such as dining areas, kitchen and recreational areas also need to be expanded. This the scheme does not address at all. Also the scheme specifically mentions that construction should be of RCC or Assam type. This stipulation has no doubt been put so that entrepreneurs utilise the funds properly without cutting corners. However RCC or Assam type construction is not the most appealing accommodation for rural home stays and resorts. Log cabins, tents, thatch houses are more preferred by tourists. Though local timber may be a sensitive resource we can import from outside the country and the State things such as pre fabricated wooden cabins (these are certified to be termite proof) and luxury tents. The scheme should be flexible enough to cover all these types of accommodation. Moreover the scheme could subsidise things like generators and invertors, (a must for rural areas), mountain bikes, camping and adventure sports equipment so that its impact is more wholesome and meaningful. The Assam CM’s Yojgar Yojana has enabled so many expensive taxis on the road and perhaps a CM Tourism Scheme subsidising such things here would provide a much needed impetus.
Lastly it would be helpful if some areas are turned into tourism parks and are made eligible for higher incentives. In such areas better coordination between government departments such as PWD, Tourism, Deptt of Telecom could make a great difference. From personal experience at Umsaw I can say that for the past three years our pleas to tarmac a mere three hundred metre stretch of road have fallen on deaf ears.
I am sure many others would have more ideas to contribute and if the government keeps its ears to the ground we could look forward to a tourism revolution. We have long been used to political and administrative mouths telling us what to do. Perhaps if they also, as they did during the above mentioned seminar, lent us their ears a true tourism revolution would actually take place. One hopes that the new attitude is here to stay and not prove as most things in Meghalaya have proven to be, just a false start.
The writer is a personality development trainer, columnist and runs a small home stay at Umsaw. He can be contacted at [email protected]