From Our Reporter
Sohra, June 6: Despite the national attention following the murder of Indore tourist Raja Raghuvanshi and the disappearance of his wife Sonam and the portrayal of Sohra as a crime-infested place by a section of the national media, hotel and home stay operators in Sohra report no immediate drop in bookings, though they acknowledge growing queries over safety.
While the recent incident involving the tourist couple from Indore has led to a slight decrease in the flow of tourists in Mawlakhiat village, the main access point to the famed Double Decker Root Bridge in Nongriat, guest house, resorts, and home stays in the rest of Sohra have not experienced any dip in customers and there are no cancellations.
Several stakeholders have underlined the need for better coordination, safety signage, and route awareness to prevent future tragedies. Debashish JR Shati, who runs the popular Orange Roots Vegetarian Restaurant, noted that while operations remain normal, safety should not be brushed aside.
“We feel our place (Sohra) is safe. We have had women tourists from China who didn’t speak a word of English. They came here and travelled safely,” Shati said.
Mah Lit, owner of Wahsjaro Homestay in Nongriat, said business has continued unaffected.
Kong Ri Shangpliang, who runs Escapades, said that business is good and there are no impacts.
She confirmed that the home stay was fully booked for the next three days.
Asked if safety concerns have been raised by tourists, she said, “Yes, a few people ask…a lot of tourists come here through agencies.”
While most tourists don’t inquire about safety, Shangpliang says they suggest visitors to take the well-established Tyrna village route while visiting Double Decker Living Rootbridge.
Pynshaiborlang Khyllait, caretaker of Sohra Plaza, said, “Till now, there have been no cancellation. It’s the same like before… including walk-ins. This is the peak season.”
In contrast, hotels in Shillong have witnessed a dip in tourist footfall in June, considered one of the peak tourist seasons in Meghalaya.
Parambir Singh Sehdave, president of the Federation of Shillong Hotels, confirmed that the footfall of tourist into the state has gone down due to the twin factors of rains besides the recent murder of the Indore tourist in Sohra. He said that the recent Indo-Pak “war” also dampened the situation and the occupancy rate now has gone below 50%.
Meghalaya Rural Tourism Forum (MRTF) president Alan West said that the isolated incident of Sohra cannot be blamed for the decrease footfall as other factors like monsoon and floods are also contributing to reduce the flow of tourist.
He said that the decline of tourist to the state is not much and even now the occupancy of the room is about 75%.
He said that people from mainland India look at the Northeast as one entity and if something is happening in Sikkim, they think it is also happening in Meghalaya.
Terming the recent incident in Sohra as unfortunate, he cautioned against jumping to conclusions since the incident is under investigation.
He also denounced an organised campaign on social media where a narrative is being created to tag Meghalaya as an “unsafe state”.