Dr Asangba Tzudir
A data study conducted by the Goa institute of Management brought out the impact of roads, garbage and prices on tourism sector and the negativity of the same were found to be the reasons for the decline of tourism in Goa.
Nagaland has attracted worldwide attention in the tourism sector with Kohima finding a prominent place in the World War II map. The yearly hornbill festival which has become the center of tourist attraction can be seen as the main reason for Nagaland being ‘tagged’ as the ‘”Land of Festivals.” The immaculate nature’s beauty, of scintillating hills and valleys in a tranquil abode presenting to the world as the ‘Wild East’ coupled with the colorful culture that each tribe brings are reasons that has boosted the tourism sector.
While the condition of roads in Nagaland; the escalating price of various commodities and essential services; and the never ending ‘production’ of garbage has really impacted the lives and livelihood of the people in different ways, these three aspects has not been studied from the lens of its impact on the tourism sector. Such a study is much needed to first make an assessment of the degree of impact it causes on the tourism sector, so also fill and bridge the gaps that retards the growth of tourism.
Take the case of roads and its impact on religious/pilgrimage tourism. To visit villages like Molungkimong and Molungyimsen, one has to be mentally prepared to shed the idea of ‘modernity’ and its associated comforts and go down memory lane like the American missionaries travelled, or a chopper to avoid the so called ‘roads’ in the primitive sense of the term.
Thanamir Apples have caught the attention of the people of Nagaland and over the years a festival is being organized during harvest time. The government can adopt such a festival to make it into a tourism related activity provided the roads leading to the village become a priority for larger peoples participation.
Prices of local food and other products and of essential services are also a concern. It shoots up especially during the Hornbill festival which has been strongly highlighted by foreign tourists.
Certain villages like Mopungchuket have moved beyond the problem of garbage and adopted community initiated project like the Greensight (2016-2021), however, while such initiatives led by students, youths and the village council are indeed promising, on the whole, plastics especially polybags and plastic bottles constituting bulk of the garbage continues to be a menace especially in Dimapur which bagged the distinction of coming 8th in the list of dirtiest cities in India in 2020 in the category of population with less than 10 lakhs. Sadly, the ban of the use of plastics seems to have forgotten, and not having a recycling unit only compounds the problem. Having earned such a ‘dirty’ image, it definitely is not good for tourism and tourists.
While Nagaland with all the diversities that comes from all the districts only testifies the huge potential for the growth as well as development of tourism, the Government especially needs to work on these three aspects of Garbage, Roads and Price factor for the ‘healthy’ growth of tourism in Nagaland. An in-depth empirical research is desirable to study the impact of Garbage, Roads and pricing on tourism.
(Dr Asangba Tzudir contributes a weekly guest editorial to the Morung Express. Comments can be emailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
