SHILLONG: The Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Meghalaya, Arun Kumar Kembhavi said the strengthening of tourism cooperative societies will take the state towards high end luxury tourism.
He delivered the welcome speech at the one day work shop for promotion and development of rural tourism cooperative societies and indigenous products organised by the office of the Meghalaya Village Development & Promotion Tourism Cooperative Societies Ltd (MVDPTCS), Shillong in collaboration with the Office of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies and sponsored by Raj Bhavan.
According to him, the state has not been able to tap its full potential of rural tourism in Meghalaya and the workshop will be a step towards bridging that gap.
Agricultural Production Commissioner, KN Kumar said the state government is on the move towards developing rural tourism and expressed optimism that cooperative societies will help in promoting rural tourism.
On the other hand, he spoke of barriers that restrict rural tourism from attaining new heights such as absence of good roads, lack of accommodation infrastructure and no formal education. “How do you expect tourists to reach you without better road connectivity? Even the accommodation in rural areas is not up to the mark,” he added.
According to Kumar, to bridge the deficit of capacity in handling domestic and foreign tourists, the locals should be proficient in Hindi and other foreign languages such as French, German, Japanese etc., while the government is also willing to support the locals in the new move.
With regards to cuisine, he said the locals should also know how to cook continental and Indian cuisines rather than restricting themselves to local food.
He pointed out that rural tourism is a potential money spinner and the government will make an effort to invest in it.
Kumar also expressed discontentment that the success stories of village tourism is not being suitably documented and set upon a plan to start documenting success stories of the cooperatives venturing into rural tourism.
Speaking as the chief guest, Tourism Minister Metbah Lyngdoh hoped that the workshop will be a successful one.
“There should be capacity building for the communities and giving more equipment to ensure that tourists are looked after well,” he said.
During the programme, an eight minute video documentation of MVDPTCS depicting the rustic charm of some of the surreal tourist spots in the state was played.