TURA: The Joint Director of Registrar of Cooperative Societies in Shillong on Thursday said that South Garo Hills which is blessed with natural scenic beauties and rich cultural heritage needs to be valued and utilized.
The official was speaking at the workshop cum awareness programme for promotion and development of rural tourism through cooperative societies held at Baghmara Baptist Church Community Hall in South Garo Hills.
Encouraging the people to take up rural tourism through cooperative Societies and avail of its benefits, the official said that Rural Tourism is conceptualizedby the cooperation department to promote cooperative Societies at the grassroots level by interlinking the indigenous activities skill and talent in the field of art and craft, weaving and spinning, apiculture and Agriculture Horticulture with tourism sector.
Earlier, the Managing Director of Meghalaya Development & Promotion Tourism Cooperative Society Ltd informed that Tourism industry is the largest industry in terms of employment generation and uplift of the socio economic conditions of the rural areas. The official added that 20 Rural Tourism projects have been managed and run by cooperative Societies in different villages of the state and are functioning well and doing extremely good.
Reminding that the objective of rural tourism is to promote festivals, cultural tourism, eco-friendly, adventure tourism, ethnic tourism and farm tourism, the official informed that the department provides financial assistance up to Rs 1,50,000/- in addition to providing Guest House or Travelers’ Nest to various Cooperative Society that are affiliated with Rural Tourism under Cooperative Societies.
District Tourist Officer, C B Sangma also elaborated on the role of Tourism department and its objective to harness the vast untapped rural tourism prospective of the state. A large number people from all walks of life participated in the programme.
