Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Monday called on Union Minister of State for Tourism KJ Alphons along with State Tourism Minister Metbah Lyngdoh at his office in New Delhi and sought his intervention to initiate “destination tourism” projects in the state.
The Chief Minister discussed issues like development of tourism infrastructure and amenities in different tourist locations with particular focus on Sohra, Umiam and eco-tourism destination of Nokrek and Balpakram.
“We have to build tourism around Unique Selling Points (USPs) of the region and the focus of the Government will be to balance tourism potential of the State in sync with creating avenues for the farming community as well as youth to take up entrepreneurial activities,” said the CM.
The Union Minister suggested to the CM Sangma to work on possibilities of promoting luxury tourism in State. “Meghalaya is a priority State for the Ministry of Tourism and we are going to extend all possible help to boost tourism. I would personally take up the issue of road connectivity in Meghalaya with Union Transport Minister for his personal intervention,” said Alphons.
Alphons also briefed the CM Sangma that 12 different locations has been identified in Northeast to promote destination tourism including Sohra, where caving will the focus area of concern.
“We want to develop the cave network of Meghalaya and make it a major attraction for the tourists,” Alphons added.
Alphons also assured the CM that all pending tourism projects of the State would be implemented accordingly.
