BY DEBAJYOTI CHAKRABORTY
KOLKATA, 7 MAY 2023:
One of the seven sisters of the North Eastern Region of India, Mizoram is sprawled across 21,087 sq kilometres and shares a border with Bangladesh to the west and Myanmar to the east and south. Given that it has an international boundary of 722 kilometers, the state’s location is of great strategic importance. It boasts about 21 hill ranges with an average height of 12,00 metres above sea level. The highest mountain in Mizoram is Phawngpui or Blue Mountain which reaches a height of 2,360 metres above sea level. These hills are interspersed with valleys and 16 major rivers. River Tlawng with a length of 185.15 kilometres is the longest river in the state. Mizoram is a beautiful place for the tourists due to its dramatic landscape and pleasant climate. There are several tourism hotspots in the state.
www.thetravelandtourismtimes.com is thankful to the Tourism Department of Mizoram for arranging an exclusive interview of Mr. Robert Romawia Royte, Tourism minister of Mizoram. Here are the excerpts of the interview-
Q) Mizoram has bagged the runner up prize in ad cafeteria category. Can you describe in detail about the award and nominations ?
A) In order to acknowledge the efforts undertaken by the State Governments, Union Territory Administrations and various implementation agencies, the Ministry of Tourism constituted Swadesh Darshan Awards in different categories. The awards highlighted best practices including achievement of planned objectives, innovative approach, adoption of sustainability principals in planning, design and operations, efficient project monitoring, ability to attract private investments in peripheral development and efforts undertaken to ensure optimal operations and maintenance among other things.
Launched in 2014-15, Swadesh Darshan is a Central Sector Scheme. It was launched with the aim of developing theme-based tourist circuits in India. Mizoram received Runner Up position in Best Cafeteria Category for Thenzawl Golf Course & Resort which was developed under Swadesh Darshan Scheme.
It was such a pleasure for us to receive this prestigious recognition from the Ministry of Tourism.
Q) Why do you consider that the nominated component has been awarded?
A) Thenzawl Golf Course & Resort is a world class state of the art infrastructure developed under Swadesh Darshan. State Government is also committed to extend livelihood enhancement for locals and the O & M Plan has been designed in such a manner that benefits of tourism development go to the local people which is also one objective of the Mizoram Responsible Tourism Policy 2020. Our award not only acknowledges our success in the project but also recognizes our qualities: ability, effort and excellence towards tourism.
Q) Please highlight the creative and innovative approaches adopted that you think will make a critical contribution to the tourist experience.
A) Innovation differs from creativity. Creativity refers to the introduction of new ideas, new approaches and inventions, whereas innovation corresponds to the application of new and creative ideas and the implementation of these inventions. This is why Mizoram Tourism curated and designed a well-circuit tourist destination in and around Thenzawl which offers many breathtaking attractions. As one of the innovative project, we have launched Thenzawl Visitor App, a self-guided visitor app which can be downloaded from the Android play store or the Apple store. It is a virtual platform for people to see Thenzawl, a digital platform to promote tourism and reap economic benefits of tourism.
Q) Please highlight the adopted practices in planning, design and other facets of operation that you think must make a critical contribution to the sustainability of tourism at the tourism destination.
A) As I have said earlier, Mizoram Tourism has adopted responsible tourism policy in 2020 that aims for focusing and developing services that would promote tourism in a responsible and sustainable manner with diversification of tourism products and create employment opportunities for the people, a suitable balance must be established between socio-cultural, environment and economic to guarantee the long-term sustainability of tourism. We have now started responsible rural tourism initiative in a pilot village called Khamrang to introduce regenerative tourism in line with the principle of sustainable tourism development under UNWTO by, making optimal use of environmental resources that constitute a key element in tourism development, maintaining essential ecological processes and helping to conserve natural heritage and biodiversity, respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities, conserve their cultural heritage and traditional values and ensuring viable, long-term economic operations and contributing to poverty alleviation through tourism development.
Q) Highlight approaches adopted to ensure efficient project monitoring and implementation of the project. What do you think made a critical contribution to timely completion of the project?
A) I believe that project implementations rarely go as planned, but the process can be built to maintain positive and focused momentum even in the face of various obstacles when there is a solid system in place. First and foremost, project is planned with due care taking all tourism potential, tourist footfalls and long term sustainability into account and put the right persons to identify these needs for complete evaluation. We also put local communities in charge to supervise and coordinate the project implementation processes. This is very critical in timely completion of tourism development projects.
Q) Highlight how the component fared in attracting private investments?
A) Mizoram Tourism has gained a lot of attention due to its aggressive social media campaigns. Tourism was also already accorded ‘industry status’ in 1993 with a series of incentives and subsidies. At present, Mizoram Tourism is developing a series of investment policy guidelines to help better understand and generate sustainable investments in the tourism ecosystem. I feel that this draft investment policy will help develop new insights for policy making to address the current barriers, new opportunities and encourage sustainable investments in the tourism sector.
Q) . Please describe the measures and initiatives undertaken showcasing the commitment to ensure optimum promotion and marketing of the developed component?
A) Again, I would like to reiterate that an effective advertising campaign is the most important aspect in the successful development of a tourism business. We have now developed tourism portal and mobile app for online booking of Tourist Lodges and Thenzawl Golf Course which are the important tools to solidify our professionalism. All our promotion efforts and marketing plans would be delivered to prospective customers to through our portals and mobile app.
Q) Do you think such awards will further boost the tourism prospects of Mizoram?
A) In recent years, Mizoram Tourism has constantly been shining the spotlight on different areas of #sustainability. The lush green mountains, a rich diversity of cultures, scenic places, rivers, lakes, rare flora and fauna, historical monuments, bilingual and hospitable people are the main attractions for the visitors. Mizoram has immense diversity in natural and socio-cultural aspects.
Endowed with such pristine natural treasures, Mizoram has both comparative and competitive advantages to attract tourists in search of authentic new experiences and those seeking to escape to nature, which significantly is more pronounced after the time of COVID-19. As more and more people choose to travel today, it accelerates the need to decarbonize our travel footprint, effectively and efficiently. With this award, we would be recognized as a preferred destination for tourists who want to experience our environmental, culture and society that will economically benefit the people without using up the resources during travel that future generations will need to thrive.
Q) What other steps are you taking and what are your focus areas to make Mizoram the top tourism destination in north east India in the days to come?
A) Mizoram is synonymous with unspoiled beauty and untouched nature. Mizoram is an exciting and unique combination of culture and adventure at their best with a pleasant climate and it is never really cold at all. Our priority is responsible and sustainable tourism where everyone takes responsibility in tourism, be it Government, public or travelers.
Our focus areas include attracting huge investment to break the geographical isolation and remove communication bottlenecks from NE Indian states and planned efforts to build up tourism ecosystem in the State and a friendly investment atmosphere for attracting investors as well as the tourists.
Q) Which are your present tourism hotspots?
A) Mizoram has been richly endowed with natural resources and its human resource is an asset to the economic development given the sense of gender equality and the higher levels of literacy that already exists with many tourist attractions including Phawngpui Tlang, Khamrang which is being developed as Ecotourism village, Reiek Tlang, Ailawng, Sialsuk Tlang, Ngentiang, Palak Lake one of the Ramsar sites in India, Vangchhia, Champhai, Vaphai, Khawbung, Biate, Serlui B to name a few.
Lastly, I would like to extend my warm invitation to all of you to pay a visit to Mizoram once that will certainly make a place not only in your travel bucket list but I am also sure that Mizoram will stay in your heart forever.
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