Arunachal, Sikkim new tourist hotspots as curbs relaxed

By Indian Express on June 28,2010

It pays to be bold and innovative, as the government is fast learning with some of its policies in the North-East. Shedding age-old insecurities, the government has been allowing more and more tourists, especially foreigners, to visit areas in the North-East that were earlier out of bounds.

While the direct result has been an impressive growth in tourism in the last few years, there has been another collateral benefit, of much larger significance.

As more and more foreign tourists visit these areas, notably Arunachal Pradesh, it becomes that much simpler for the government to counter Chinese propaganda in the international community questioning the legitimacy of India’s control over Arunachal.

China continues to stake claim to Arunachal Pradesh and refuses to recognise it as part of India. By easily letting in foreign tourists, the government hopes to show to the world that these areas are as normal and as integrated with India as the rest of the country.

The latest figures from the Tourism Ministry reveal a sharp rise in visitors to Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim in the last few years.

Arunachal Pradesh, in fact, has seen an almost exponential rise in foreign tourist arrivals, from 607 in 2006 to 3,945 last year. The number of domestic tourists has also more than doubled from 80,137 to 1,95,147 in the same period.

“This impressive growth in tourist inflow can largely be attributed to the relaxation in Protected Area Permits,” said Bandana Deori, Tourism Secretary, Arunachal Pradesh.

“We have also built up a very tourist-friendly infrastructure in the last few years. Ours is also one of the most peaceful states. The peace and tranquility here attracts a large number of tourists,” she said.

The tiny state of Sikkim saw a slight dip in foreign tourist arrivals last year, but it still attracts more of them than any other state in the region, including Assam. In 2009, it got 17,730 foreign tourists as compared to 19,154 in 2008. Assam, the biggest state in the region, received only 14,942 foreigners last year.

Sikkim has already established itself as one of the most popular tourist destinations for domestic travellers as well, receiving 5,47,810 visitors in 2009 as compared to 3,68,451 in 2008. In fact, the state, which falls in the ecologically fragile Himalayan zone, is already thinking of regulating the tourist inflow so as not to upset the environmental balance.

These two states, along with many other similarly placed regions like some parts of Jammu and Kashmir and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, had, for decades, remained restricted areas on account of their sensitive geography. The whole of Arunachal Pradesh and part of Sikkim are designated as protected areas, meaning even Indian nationals need an inner line permit to enter. The rest of Sikkim is a restricted area, requiring only foreign nationals to obtain a special permit. Foreigners are allowed only in groups of four or more in these areas and that too for not more than 10 days.

It is only recently that the government realised that tight controls were proving to be counter-productive. Accordingly, a series of steps were taken to ease some of the restrictions. Among them, the decision to let in foreigners in groups of two or more, instead of four or more. The foreigners are now also allowed to stay for a period up to 30 days, instead of the earlier limit of 10 days. These relaxations are being constantly monitored by the Home Ministry and are under continuous review.

Simultaneously, the government is aggressively marketing the North-East as a popular tourist destination. About 10 per cent of the Tourism Ministry’s plan allocation is earmarked for the North-Eastern region. The actual expenditure is in fact more than that, with the ministry routinely diverting unutilised funds from elsewhere into the region.