JOY ROY CHOUDHURY – Guwahati
In an effort to offer the best possible facilities to inbound tourists and promote public-private-partnership (PPP) in the tourism sector, Mizoram government has decided to partly offload its stake and handover 17 prime properties owned by the department of tourism to private partners. This information was divulged by Chetan B Sanghi, commissioner and secretary, department of tourism, Government of Mizoram.
“We want the private partners to efficiently and professionally run and manage these properties. We are working on the modalities of this handover and an Expression of Interest inviting proposals from private partners to run these properties will be issued soon,” he said. The private partners should have knowledge about the state in order to run these properties efficiently, added a senior tourism department official.
S Hiato, tourism minister, Mizoram also added, “It is my pride to state that Mizoram is the ideal destination for adventurous and inquisitive travellers seeking new destinations to relax and embrace nature at its best.” He further added that in an effort to harness the potential offered by the topography and weather of Mizoram as well as to keep pace with the latest trends in tourism the department of tourism is looking at venturing into promotion of aerosport to increase tourist inflow. Last year, the department hosted International Sport Landing Paragliding Competition successfully and is promoting adventure clubs in a bid to launch the adventure sport segment in a big way.
Aggressive steps are also being taken to promote rural tourism, ecotourism and trekking in the state. Trekking has already been introduced and is conducted by local tour operators; the department of tourism is presently seeking funds to open new routes with basic facilities.
