The northeastern states of India have often evoked a sense of mystery and awe for the country’s tourists and travellers, especially if you hail from any part of the country below the Vindhya and Satpura ranges. If you have never been to any of the seven sisters—Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura—and experienced its breathtaking beauty in person, all of you have really on is news from the region.
Given its borders with Chinese territories and Bangladesh, among other regions, Northeast India has always been in the news for the wrong reasons, as far as tourists are concerned. However, tourism data suggests that Northeast tourism is growing better than ever.
Dispelling notions of unrest, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat hailed the region as the “gateway of South East Asia” in his inaugural address to the 12th edition of the International Tourism Mart (ITM) at Kaziranga in Assam.
Highlighting how the renowned Kaziranga National Park grew “from 400 square kilometres to 1,300 square kilometres” in the past ten years, Shekhawat said that India’s Northeast was no longer identified with separatism. The union minister also hailed the region’s rich natural beauty, culture, and heritage in his speech. A UNESCO-designated “World Heritage Site”, the Kaziranga National Park is home to the endangered one-horned rhinoceros. It was announced as a national park of the country—50 years ago—back in 1974.
The ITM, an annual affair organised by the Ministry of Tourism, highlights the tourism potential of the northeastern region to draw in more domestic and international travellers. State leaders, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu were present at the event this time. Last year, the ITM was held in Shillong, and before that, the 2022 edition was organised at Aizawl.
This week, on Wednesday, officials in Arunachal Pradesh recovered the body of Suvendu Choudhary, the chief principal security officer of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR)—four days after he went missing. NFR chief PRO Kapinjal Kishore Sharma said that Choudhary’s body was found 8km downstream from the Hindu pilgrimage site of Parashuram Kund.
However, this was not an instance of national security. Authorities confirmed that Choudhary slipped into the river while visiting Parashuram Kund with family members and other NFR officials. The remains were recovered after a joint search-and-rescue operation that involved state and national disaster response forces, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the local police, and even the Indian Army.
The presence of such a varied set of security enforcement authorities could be seen as apt for ensuring the safety of tourists to the region.
Northeast tourism continues on the path of steady growth
Tourism is not merely a budding industry in Northeast India despite its minute habitable area when compared with the rest of the country. The Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER) is actively looking for avenues to increase tourist footfall in the region. In the report published by the Ministry as part of the Northeast Global Investors Summit, plans for “upcoming tourism circuits” were outlined.
These tourism circuits, ranging from 4–5 days to 15–20 days, were planned in various themes:
1. Eco-tourism, Caving, and Wildlife Tourism (entry point: Guwahati)
2. Biking, Rally, and Nature Tourism (entry points: Itanagar, North Lakhimpur)
3. Religious and Tea Tourism (entry point: Dibrugarh)
4. Leisure, Cultural and Eco-tourism (entry points: Dibrugarh, Dimapur, Silchar, Imphal, Agartala)
5. Leisure, Nature, and Medical Tourism (entry point: Agartala)
6. River, Leisure and Nature Tourism (entry point: Pakyong)
Each of these themes included one to three circuits and covered various points in the seven states. For instance, one of the circuits in Eco-tourism, Caving, and Wildlife Tourism was the “Guwahati–Shillong–Nongstoin–Balpakram National Park–Tura–Guwahati” roundtrip.
Not only did the tourism industry recover from the pandemic years, but the number of domestic tourists also surpassed pre-COVID levels back in 2022, crossing 1.18 crore. As of official data available from 2013, the highest ever recorded before this was 95.6 lakh in 2019 and the lowest ever was 18.7 lakh in 2020.
Discounting the effect of the pandemic (2020 and 2021 data), tourists to the Northeast—both domestic and international—have steadily increased in number from a mere 67 lakh in 2013 to 1.19 crore in 2022. While the central government data on consolidated Northeast tourism for the recent couple of years is still awaited, most published statewise data show no signs of slowing down. For instance, Mizoram alone had about 2.2 lakh footfall annually for both fiscal 2022–23 and 2023–24 periods.
State leaders say Manipur violence won’t impact Northeast tourism
Assam CM Sarma, talking to the media, said that the ongoing ethnic violence in Manipur has not impacted the tourism sector in the other six states in the region. According to Sarma, most of the region was free from any instances of militancy or any law-and-order issues, apart from a few isolated incidents.
Earlier this month, there were reports from Manipur of gunmen seizing six hostages while exchanging fire with Indian troops. The incident occurred following a grenade-rocket attack on homes and vehicles in Jiribam district.
Last year alone, protests on education and job reservations and clashes over ethnic lands claimed more than 250 lives and displaced at least six thousand people. Clashes between the ethnic majority Meitei and the Kuki minority communities escalated earlier this month, creating a low and order situation in Manipur.
With India entering the winter tourism season this month, it remains to be seen how recent developments have impacted the sector in the region. Given that despite isolated incidents of violence, Northeast tourism has more than doubled in the past decade, the region is expected to see an increased focus from the Ministry of Tourism, and more domestic tourists. For when the Northeast calls, it is time to pack your bags.