SHILLONG: A three-day community camp from April 24 to 26 was organised by the students and faculty members of the Department of Tourism and Travel Management of Martin Luther Christian University, Shillong at Kongthong village with an aim to merge learning with experience and to provide the students with a platform to acquire knowledge through empirical evidence.
The village is located 60 kms from the state capital and is unique in the sense that its inhabitants use tunes and whistles to call out to each other.
Each individual of the village has his or her own unique tune.
The students were also made aware on community-based tourism as most of the tourism development initiatives in the village are taken up by the community itself.
Tourism in Kongthong Village is promoted by the Indigenous Agro Tourism Cooperative Society mediated by Rothel Khongsit, a resident of the village.
During the camp, activities involved a study on various elements like the geography, culture, history, heritage, community ethics and livelihoods of the villagers.
This was accompanied by cultural programmes where both students and people of the community took part in.
The cultural programmes were also attended by people from nearby villages like Mawlang, Mawsohmat and Khrang.
At the same time, the villagers were introduced to the important concepts of tourism like customer service skills and sustainable tourism practices.
There were also interactions and discussions with the community on ways to supplement their livelihood by developing tourism infrastructures that can help in garnering revenue.
