SHILLONG: “North Eastern states should ensure that they get a fair share of the benefit from the booming global tourism sector and take steps sensitise stakeholders on the intricate relations between sustainable tourism and the environment,” said W Synrem, Economic Adviser, North Eastern Council (NEC).
He was speaking as the Chief Guest in the wo-day national seminar on “Sustainable tourism: Striking a Socio-economic and environmental balance” that has been organised by the Sociology Department, Synod College from Monday.
Synrem said, “It is time for the North Eastern States to wake up and try to reap the maximum benefits from the tourism sector.”
He pointed out that despite wars, political turmoil, terrorist attacks, economic and energy crises, international trade in tourism services had grown spectacularly since 1970s.
He defined sustainable tourism as an industry committed to making a low impact on the environment and local culture, while helping to generate future employment for local people.
“The main thrust of the idea of sustainable tourism is to ensure that development is a positive experience for the local people, for tourism companies and for the tourists themselves,” he said.
Indicating figures of tourist travels, he said that international tourist arrivals reached 1.035 billion whereas in 1970, there were 166 million international tourist arrivals worldwide.
” In the year 2012 visitors spent $1 trillion on travel excluding international passenger transportation expenses valued at $213 billion,” Synrem said.