By Banshanlang Marwein
Summer is the peak season where tourists would want to experience adventure tourism in the Abode of Clouds. Since the summer retreat is at its peak and such expectations of tourist coming to the state are obvious because most cities in India are reeling under the penetrating hot and humid climate. The monsoon rains make it more difficult for such cities because of the increasing humidity and floods. People living in such cities with extreme temperatures are struggling to survive and combatting hard to tackle the blistering heat and humidity. While writing this article I am also reminded how monsoon rains have destroyed cities, towns and villages in other parts of the country with floods and uninvited circumstances particularly the dreaded floods in Kerala, frequent floods in Assam, recent floods in Nagaland and other states which claimed many lives and left many others displaced.
Meghalaya is one among the places to visit during to escape the heat and humidity because the ruthless summers in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kanpur, Chandigarh, Jaipur and elsewhere makes people question why the weather has to be so tough and scornful with them. However, Meghalaya too is part of the climate change and the blistering heat today. The contrasting lives in the plains as opposed to those in the hills needs much reflection. What have we in the hills done to preserve the environment and contribute towards protecting the rising climate change? Meghalaya and the rest of the world celebrated the Environment Day in June but it is equally important to follow up the important measures to curb climate change as well as pollution and the destruction of natural beauty. It would be a disaster if Meghalaya one day bears the brunt of pollution and high temperatures like in the big cities. And this can happen if we don’t take necessary precautions while time is still on our side. Yet Shillong city itself is already facing acute problems of congestion, pollution, unruly garbage dumped in public places particularly in commercial centres like Iewduh, Iew Mawlong, Khyndailad, Motphran, not to mention the glorious Wah Umkhrah, Umshyrpi etc. It is unfair to denunciate anyone here because we are all part of the crisis but the call here is that we will all be responsible if Shillong or Meghalaya would face the blistering heat and over-pollution if we don’t wake up now.
As the name Meghalaya itself suggests it has ample attractions be it the pleasant weather, phenomenal landscape and the like. Meghalaya though it is still lagging behind (at many levels) in terms of tourism infrastructure but tourists keep visiting because of the fame of Sohra (Cherrapunji) and Mawsynram being the rainiest place on earth, the Dawki-Shnongpdeng (Indo-Bangla border) crystal clear river, Mawlynnong(“Asia’s Cleanest Village”), Nongriat having the best of natural beauty with its living root bridges and flora and fauna, the Nongkhnum River Island and the list goes on. There are majestic waterfalls and caves particularly the recently publicized KremPuri among others; not to mention the spectacular scenery in other parts of Meghalaya like the Jaintia Hills, West and South Khasi Hills, Ri Bhoi and Garo Hills region.
The air quality and the natural beauty of Meghalaya particularly in villages are an irreplaceable treat for those experiencing the difficult life in metropolitan cities. The therapy that nature can give us is beyond compare which is why it is very important to preserve them while enjoying the beauty. The tourist might face difficulties in terms of traffic congestion, the unavailability of a better and cheap transport service, bad roads in rural areas, the not so good and reasonable hotels and homestays but why would they worry about that so long as they can relish the cool weather and endless beauty of nature. However, not everyone would have the same mindset. If the State Tourism Department and other related departments and other stakeholders don’t take serious note of the problems faced by the tourists and travellers and the locals, this could be a missed opportunity for the state and its people. Furthermore strict rules should be laid down against locals and tourists who litter and dump their garbage unscrupulously.
Although there are vast potentialities that Meghalaya could improve upon to attract tourists from across the country and abroad, mainly rural tourism, it will take some time because it appears that the revenue that Meghalaya gets from the Tourism Industry as of today is relatively small. But without generous investment in appropriate areas how would we expect something substantive to happen? If we take the example of states in northeast like Sikkim, it earns handsome revenue from Tourism. This is because of the investments made by all stakeholders in the state. Not long ago the erstwhile Mukul Sangma Government showed a lot of interest in promoting tourism in the state in the form of mega events. The question remains – who are the real beneficiaries from such events? It is perplexing though as to why the government has not implemented and executed the draft Tourism Policy which will be the road-map in making sure that the people at large will benefit from this sector as mentioned in the Policy. Interestingly our Chief Minister Conrad Sangma went to visit tourist destinations like Dawki and Balprakram as part of tourism promotion. I think this is not enough; it needs a draft policy to be implemented so that it can work in tandem with the needs of the people in the state as well as the tourist who comes to visit. However even if the policy is implemented it will go in vain if it is not implemented in letter and spirit. Will the present MDA government make the Tourism Policy materialise?
Along these lines I think Tourism should have a long term plan so that the impacts and future repercussions will take the state tourism to a higher level. Having lived in Sikkim for two years, I have experienced how important tourism is for the development of the State and for job opportunities. The residents of Sikkim are blessed with natural surroundings and they are responsible for taking care of public spaces. Moreover, most people if not all, are highly dependent on tourism sector because it has prospects in their daily lives. One of the lessons that Meghalaya could learn from is cleanliness of Gangtok the capital of Sikkim. This cleanliness has attracted many tourists and travellers from across India and the world. While appreciating the schemes of the Government for turning Tourism into an industry it is also imperative to question the seriousness of the Government in making this sector a blessing for the common people here.
The number of students who have completed their studies in Tourism and Hotel management are increasing each year but have no job opportunities in the State? It may be mentioned that among other districts in Meghalaya, West Khasi Hills has been neglected in terms of developing it as a tourist destination. The reasons for this are many; let us hope that the Tourism Minister who represents Mairang constituency (West Khasi Hills) will take this issue with the seriousness sit deserves. The whole point is to ensure that developing the Tourism sector should not be at the cost of completely destroying the natural resources. Already the overflow of tourists in places like Sohra, Dawki, Nongriat and Mawlynnong and other similar destinations is huge and alarming so much so that protecting the sanctity of the places is fast diminishing. Meanwhile other destinations are being ignored because they are not well advertised or because of bad roads. I would suggest that the people who visit such places and also the State should be very concerned on promoting eco-tourism so that we do not destroy nature even while relishing it.
Other destination should be fairly and equally promoted so that the locals in other destinations too will benefit from Tourism because there is huge potential for rural tourism in the state which has time and again been mentioned by various quarters.
The Shillong Times reported in the last week of May that there is an increase in tourist inflow to the State particularly when compared to the year 2000 where only around 1.7 lakhs tourist visited the state, whereas, in 2017 more than 10 lakhs tourist visited Meghalaya. It cannot be denied that today Meghalaya is well ahead as compared to the past decades but it has to acclimatise itself to the changing times. A practical guide in this respect is that residents belonging to less politically influential backgrounds should be inducted because these are the actually the backbone in providing the tourism assets to tourists. Tourism can become a great potential for job opportunities for many youths in the coming years if the State sorts out alternatives for employment. However, one of the complications in Meghalaya in trying to develop tourism is that most of the spots are owned by individuals or clans or community. But this can be dealt with once the government is ready to negotiate meticulously and exponentially for the larger benefit of the locals.
With this I anticipate that enthusiastic people of Meghalaya should will promote tourism big time and put the state in the tourism map of the world as the most preferred tourist destination for all seasons.