Imphal, Apr 30: The State Government, through the Department of Tourism, has been taking up certain promo-tional activities in tourism sector with the objective of promotion of tourism with livelihood generation for masses by optimum utilization of locally available resources and technology. And this initiative has gained momen-tum during the last 4/5 years.
The Manipur Sangai Festival, which is an annual calendar event of Manipur Tourism, is one of such promotional activities that thrive to showcase tourism potential of the State in the field of art, culture, handloom, handi-crafts, indigenous sports, cuisines, music and adventure sports.
Over the last few years, the festival has grown not only in commercial terms but also in terms of its popularity in India as well as abroad.
Every year, the department introduces many new events during the festival. In 2015, new events/items like the Heritage Park consisting of 15 traditional exhibition huts, daytime cultural performances, traditional sports, a weeklong cleanliness drive in the city, musical performances by Shillong Chamber Choir and Tetseo Sisters, Asian Theatre Festival, Myanmar-Manipur Conference on Con- servation of Cultural Heritage, Shumang Leela, etc, were added, which were successfully held and received well by the audience.
During April 2014, Manipur Tourism hosted 1st ever Eco-tourism Conclave in the entire North Eastern region in association with Ecotourism Society of India wherein stake holders from all quarters interacted and deliberated on responsible tourism.
As part of its marketing, publicity and promotional activities, the Department has been publishing quality publicity materials like brochures, posters, folders, pocket brochures, docket folders, coffee table book, postcards, guide maps etc to disseminate information at various platforms and events showcasing the tourism potential of Manipur.
A coffee table book on Manipur Tourism was also produced through the Indian Express Group of Publication, a well recognized publi- sher in the country. To add to the list, a sand art animation movie on Manipur was produced by internationally famous sand artist Padma-shree Awardee Sudarshan Pattnaik.
The Department’s efforts in producing such world class publicity materials for promotion of Manipur Tourism have been very much well appreciated by others and this can be known from the feedback received from people at various travel fairs and festival attended by this Department. The State Tourism Department took the Women’s Polo to a greater height by joining hands with the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Rajasthan Tourism and Rajasthan Polo Club where an India-USA Women’s Polo Exhibition Game was played at Rambagh Polo Ground Jaipur on 24 January 2016 just before the finals of Maharaja Sawai Bhawani Singh Polo Cup 2016.
The Department’s vision for organizing such tournaments to promote women’s polo in the country and its efforts to push its publicity to another level was very much recognized and supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India.
During the last 15 (fifteen) years, the Department has been participating in various festivals and events like World Tourism Mart (WTM), London, North East Summit, South Asia Travel and Tourism Exchange (SATTE), International Tourism Mart, Travel and Tourism Fair (TTF), North-East Festival held at various states and recently Destination North East at New Delhi and 1st Global Exhibition on Services at New Delhi for promoting tourism.
Not only this, the Department of Tourism, Manipur has won two national awards, namely “Today Traveler’s Award for Best State for preserving Tribal Culture” and “The Most Promising New Destination Award” at the Travel and Tourism Fair (TTF), Ahmadabad adding new feathers to its cap.
