News of the onrush of tourists to common destinations, turning the place into a noisy spectacle that disrupts the gentle eco-system prevailing in and around places like Sohra, is not uncommon. It has happened in the past. It will continue to happen because tourism is still a very unorganized sector. Meghalaya has many tourist destinations but most travel agents favour Sohra and the surrounding places because they know no better. On Sundays Sohra is like a bazaar. There’s noise, drama, dancing by the roadside and really no one around to control the crowd. Most tour guides are young men who are not articulate and therefore not in control of the situation. It’s almost as if they are wary of offending the tourists. Meghalaya still has a long way to go in managing its tourism circuits. A tourist guide is not just someone who points the way to a tourist spot and then leaves the tourists to their own devices. Most of them cannot explain the importance of the destinations. In places like Nepal, tourist guides weave all kinds of stories that keep the tourists in awe of the place. Stories always interest humans and Meghalaya is a place with so many stories attached to each river, waterfall, lake, etc. It’s doubtful if the tourist guides can weave stories around the Noh Ka Likai or the Dainthlen Falls and answer tourists’ questions on how the falls were named.
The Khasi-Jaintia Hills have several tourist destinations. West Khasi Hills, South West Khasi Hills and the Jaintia Hills have their own beauty spots but most tourists come to Meghalaya via tour operators from Guwahati. They have a fixed list they give their clients and Sohra is that one destination. Now that Mawlynnong is taking a breather on Sundays, Sohra bears the brunt of the Sunday rush. As a result, local people of Shillong can no longer venture towards Sohra or Laitlum on a Sunday. Much has been spoken about managing the carrying capacity of every tourist destination. This requires a scientific study to assess how many tourists each place can sustain without degrading the environment or the visitor experience? It is therefore high time for the Tourism Department to study firstly the ecological carrying capacity which includes erosion, waste generation, water availability, biodiversity etc. Next is the physical capacity such as parking, trails, toilets, and emergency exits. Then we have an important criterion: the social capacity, meaning how many tourists the local residents can live with comfortably. Last but not least is the cultural capacity which means how many tourists a sacred grove can accommodate on a given day. If the forest is sacred is it not disrupted by continuous footfalls? Or is money the only driving factor thereby putting off high-end tourists who look for silence and healing in the sacred groves?
Its time Meghalaya tour operators develop electronic ticketing facilities with a QR code for entry and CCTV cameras to record visitor counts. There is need for GPS vehicle monitoring devices and parking censors. Most of our tourist destinations and products such as the living root bridges are sold cheap. This too needs revision. After all tourism is about selling the environment and humans don’t own the environment.
