SHILLONG: The Meghalaya Tourism Development Forum (MTDF) informed that they would not hold this year’s Autumn Festival as a mark of protest against the anti-tourist stance taken by pro-ILP agitators.
“We believe in consultation, not confrontation and feel that both the pressure groups and Government should discuss matters in the best traditions of democracy without adopting rigid postures,” MTDF Chairman, Mr RG Lyngdoh said at the meeting held on Friday.
“The ILP is like an entry visa inside one’s own country and many tourists feel that on principle they would not like to subject themselves to this strangely outdated law,” confided a travel agent who says that whenever he offers a package to Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram, most tourists politely decline the offer.
He added that it was ironic that Arunachal Pradesh is trying to hard-sell its tourism prospects by inviting Miss Universe, 2012, Olivia Frances Culpo who is also Miss USA as its brand ambassador to popularise the four-day Tawang Festival from October 20.