SHILLONG: The beauty of Shillong is attracting lakhs of tourists from far and wide, but surprisingly, tour operators from the state so far have not approached the Tourism Ministry for certificate of accreditation which could further enhance their business.
This was revealed in an interactive meeting with hoteliers, travel and tour operators organised by the Union Ministry of Tourism here on Saturday. The meeting was chaired by the Regional Director (North East) Ministry of Tourism, Sankha Subhra Devbarman.
The event was one-of-its-kind with its main focus on getting accreditation from the ministry in order to advance the state’s tourism.
Regretting that tour operators from the state are not coming forward for accreditation, he stressed on the need to brand Meghalaya and its picturesque locations through the ministry.
“North East is the centre point of adventure tourism,” and having government credentials can provide an official branding which is a basic requirement for tourism to grow,” he said.
The stakeholders, who attended the meeting, said that tour operators have not approached the ministry for accreditation since the criteria for registration were difficult to meet. However, the ministry recently had decided to relax the criteria for registration for the North East region. Asserting that the ministry wants to harness the potential which Meghalaya offers as far as tourism is concerned, Devbarman added that there is no dearth of schemes for promotion of tourism and stakeholders must come forward to avail those.
“We are keen to promote tourism in Meghalaya,” he said while informing that Union Tourism Minister is likely to visit the state on June 21.
Devbarman further said that smaller hotels and budget hotels should meet the basic criteria of having the basic facilities of servicing and for institutes like IHM to help in meeting the same.
Bala Kharshiing from the institute also touched upon the different courses provided that can help tourism grow.
President of the Federation of Shillong Hotels, B Blah, spoke on the need for hotels to register for a codified classification.
For this, he suggested the federation to work hand in hand with the ministry and the stakeholders.
One of the participants, however, felt the meeting could have been more fruitful if other ministries and departments like information and broadcasting, the North Eastern Council, public works department etc were roped in.
