Within a short 2-month interval Meghalaya’s tourism sector has another problem on its hands. First a Hungarian tourist ventures out on his own and goes missing for several days before his body was found. The cause of death was apparently a fall from a height. Now a couple from Indore, Madhya Pradesh has gone missing since May 23. The couple rented a scooter from Shillong and left it parked near Sohra Rim before launching off into some unknown destination. Unknown because the couple like many other tourists didn’t think they needed a guide and preferred to go off on a solitary adventure. To have a guide accompanying them is the last thing that a newly married couple on a honeymoon would want. But that’s if they are familiar with the place and the terrain. Meghalaya’s landscape is not the most friendly, particularly on those routes leading to the living root bridges. While most destinations now have carefully made steps others are still left untouched and can be slippery. On the one hand the fact that the treks are tough leaves them undiscovered except by experienced trekkers who also have a deep reverence for nature, but they can be treacherous too. But those who understand nature are the kind of tourists that Meghalaya needs and should encourage.
Sadly, there are bus loads of tourists these days that rely on drivers from Assam to take them around. Needless to say they miss out on some of the sights and sounds they should be seeing and visiting instead of the beaten tracks. This is where the fault of the Tourism Department lies. Why should buses and taxis venture deep into our tourist spots? Should there not be a general parking space at Sohra from where the local taxis along with a guide could take the visitors around and also explain to them the legends surrounding the places. Is this not how Tourism supports the local economy? Instead, we have vehicles from Assam going deep inside our villages where the tourists are not even given a briefing on how they should treat the local communities with respect and empathy and not look down at them simply because they are not dressed well or they cannot speak Hindi or English.
There has to be an entry and exit point where tourists register their names and also inform the registration desk which places they will be visiting. At this point there has to be an entry fee since Meghalaya is selling its natural landscapes. The Tourism Department now has to think of a tracking system once the tourists have registered themselves at the entry point. Otherwise, the State will continue to have a bad name for not being able to keep track of tourists who then go missing. At one time Meghalaya had considered training a special force called ‘tourist police’ to keep vigil at all tourist spots. Somehow that scheme fizzled out. Something has to be done to redeem the Tourism reputation of Meghalaya. Tourism can no longer be left only to the communities who are untrained and whose language skills are wanting.