By Chitra Ahanthem
Every single time Manipur gets a mention in the tourism sector, one cannot help but feel serious concern about the state of unpreparedness in terms of tourist services and infrastructure. Apart from Imphal with its choice of hotels, other districts do not have any decent accommodation to write home about. Other states in the country have a whole range of home stays which are cheaper and which also aid in showcasing local cuisines and culture. But given the state of electricity in Manipur, home stays are not really a practical option.
It is not just the issue of accommodation that is the major cause of concern but a long list of gaps within the support services that should assist tourists during their stay: services that will bring in more foot fall. Services like pre paid vehicle services from the airport. Services like metered vehicle hiring: the existing system in Manipur is for a few private vehicle hiring service to dictate rates without any proper meter system. For instance, vehicle hiring in other parts of the country depends on the nature of the vehicle (AC/non AC), vehicle size and fuel kind, total distance traveled and number of hours for the hire. Compare it to Imphal where travel within Imphal main town will cost Rs 1500/- when the distance traveled and cost involved will not even amount to this grand total. But because the tourism department does not consider it within their duty to regulate for vehicles to register with their department and fix rates of hiring etc, vehicle owners laugh all the way to their banks.
Imagine you are a tourist getting into the state for the first time. What are your options for a great stay in the state? The answers are a bit depressing: apart from Imphal and day trips to places like Moirang and Andro , both places that one can visit and head back to Imphal again, there are no other options. People in the NGO sector or traveling on account of work may well take the option of travel and stay in a few districts but a bit of quick browsing on the internet will eventually show that there are no places to stay if a tourist per se is interested in places beyond Imphal.
Yes, the exotic photos of locations in the state, the dash of colour, the festivals and texture of food can get a mention of the state’s tourism potential. But scratch the surface and one can very well see what lies underneath. One very critical mention regarding tourism related publicity using photographs is needed here. Very often various departments end up using photographs without giving due credit to both professional and amateur photographers. FOOTNOTES has earlier mentioned about how the photography contest held during the Sangai Tourism Festival organized by the Tourism Department did not mention anything about copyright issues and how many times the photograph submissions would be used. It has been mentioned in this column earlier about how photographs end up being used multiple number of times and being used by various government departments, thereby exploiting photographers who submit their pictures. The Tourism Department needs to make sure that copyright issues are sorted out before organizing photography contests and using the photographs submitted therein.
To come back to how first time tourists must be seeing in the state, once they land: imagine reaching the airport and then taking overpriced autos or other vehicles to their places of stay in their hotel of choice. From the airport to the hotels, he/she will see two distinct entities: one is definitely the mounds of garbage especially starting from Keishampat area and on the river sides of market areas (Paona Bazaar, Thangal Bazaar, Naga Mapal) while the second would be the presence of various uniform colours of security personnel. The later cannot be wished away and has no direct bearing on whether tourists will come to the state or not. After all, Jammu and Kashmir still attracts many more tourists as does many middle-east countries where law and order situation is a major issue. The cinch comes in over the matter of whether the presence of security personnel aids tourists or hinder their movements: whether they can be reliable support systems. Do the police or other security forces in the state have a nodal officer or point person who can be contacted if tourists fall into a bit of a spot? The matter of garbage in Imphal is disconcerting. An NGO involved in collecting garbage from households in Imphal was recently awarded a UN level distinction for being environment friendly. If only the award panel knew about what happens to the garbage that does get collected, they may well end up penalizing the NGO. The Tourism Department must also make sure that they do not put out anything about Langol being a possible tourism destination for nature walks or hiking or taking a drive: the sight of garbage and the stink is what would greet tourists! In between, a random survey of households in Imphal will also throw open the story of how the garbage collection has almost stopped in most places while the rest will complain of irregular pick ups, resulting in throwing off of garbage on the river banks all over again.
End-point:
The Tourism department cannot take up the stand- alone responsibility of ensuring that support systems are in place for making Manipur a tourist spot. In fact, there is an ever- increasing need for various departments to work in partnership with one another with the Tourism Department taking a lead. There is also an increasing need to invest in travel writing: the brochures that one gets to see are sterile sentences that end up looking line banal descriptions. Another key area that has to be given importance is to make sure that government certifications be allotted to eating joints with special focus on traditional cuisines. What passes off as “Chinese” and “Continental” in Manipur will never ever match the range or taste that is available in the rest of the country. If Manipur has to be sold in the tourism market as exotica, the range of local cuisine is the best shot. It is certainly commendable that government departments and private agencies are coming together to make tourists take note of Manipur as a destination but more needs to be done: a lot of initiatives needs to be thought out well, planned out and implemented effectively. In today’s world of social networking sites, if tourist support systems are in place, tourists will come calling on their own: the real award actually!
